Nucleation, growth and characterization of LiB3O5 single crystals

Abstract Nucleation parameters of LiB 3 O 5 (LBO) that crystallized from high-temperature solution using two different solvents, namely boron oxide (B 2 O 3 ) and molybdate (MoO 3 ), have been studied for better understanding of the growth process. Our results showed that B 2 O 3 solvent yielded a larger value of metastable zone width than that of molybdate flux, thus giving more stability to the solution. Based on our theoretical considerations, inclusion-free LBO crystals have been grown by spontaneous nucleation and TSSG techniques using B 2 O 3 solvent. Variation of optical absorption coefficient and refractive indices with wavelength has been studied. Results of optical and mechanical properties showed that the grown crystals are highly transparent and possesses hardness higher than that of KTP crystal.