Floating zone growth of CuO under elevated oxygen pressure and its relevance for the crystal growth of cuprates

CuO single crystals have been grown from the melt by a floating zone method with optical heating at elevated oxygen pressures 3.5 to 5.5 MPa and growth rates as high as 10 mm/h. Melting experiments and recalculated Cu-O phase diagram data show that CuO melts incongruently. The melting temperature increases and the concentration difference between the melt and the CuO phase decreases for rising oxygen partial pressure. Accordingly, increasing the oxygen partial pressure improves the growth process by reducing both the significant oxygen loss during melting as well as the composition difference at the growth interface. The results on CuO provide important information for the crystal growth of more complex cuprates.