Dataset: Optimization of PbTiO₃ Single Crystals with Flux and Laser Floating Zone Method

Lucas A. Pressley^1,2, Mekhola Sinha^1,2, Hector K. Vivanco^1,2, Juan Chamorro^1,2,*, Sujit Das^3,**,Ramamoorthy Ramesh^3,4, and Tyrel M. McQueen^1,2,5
1Department of Chemistry, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States
²Institute for Quantum Matter, The William H. Miller III Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States
³Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
⁴Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
⁵Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States
^*Present Address: Materials Department and California Nanosystems Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States
^**Present Address: Material Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India

PbTiO₃ is an established high temperature ferroelectric and component of multiferroic devices. Single crystal growth of clean PbTiO₃ has largely been limited to flux growth, in part due to the volatility of PbTiO₃ near the melting point. We demonstrate the ability to grow single crystals of PbTiO₃ using the laser diode floating zone technique. Crystal quality is examined using Laue, powder, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Low temperature specific heat and annealing experiments using thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis were used to compare the disorder and vacancies generated in the laser diode floating zone with those produced by flux growth. Samples grown using the floating zone method showed minimal oxygen deficiency, while samples grown via flux had a higher density of vacancies and metal impurities (determined using glow discharge mass spectrometry), resulting in room temperature ferromagnetic behavior. The use of laser diodes as a heating source in the optical floating zone technique is essential in the stability of the zone growth and could be applied for production and zone refinement of other volatile materials.