We report the growth of large single-crystals of Cu2MnAl, a ferromagnetic Heusler compound suitable for polarizing neutron monochromators, by means of optical floating zone under ultra-high vacuum compatible conditions. Unlike Bridgman or Czochralsky grown Cu2MnAl, our floating zone grown single-crystals show highly reproducible magnetic properties and an excellent crystal quality with a narrow and homogeneous mosaic spread as examined by neutron diffraction. An investigation of the polarizing properties in neutron scattering suggests a high polarization efficiency, limited by the relatively small sample dimensions studied. Our study identifies optical floating zone under ultra-high vacuum compatible conditions as a highly reproducible method to grow high-quality single-crystals of Cu2MnAl.
@article{arxiv.1207.2803,
title = {Optical floating zone growth of high-quality Cu2MnAl single crystals},
author = {Andreas Neubauer and Florian Jonietz and Martin Meven and Robert Georgii and Georg Brandl and Gunther Behr and Peter Böni and Christian Pfleiderer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1207.2803},
year = {2012}
}