Laser-Assisted Floating Zone Growth of BaFe₂S₃ Large-Sized Ferromagnetic-Impurity-Free Single Crystals

• Main Authors: Maria Lourdes Amigó, Andrey Maljuk, Kaustuv Manna, Quirin Stahl, Claudia Felser, Christian Hess, Anja U.B. Wolter, Jochen Geck, Silvia Seiro, Bernd Büchner
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Crystals
• Subjects: iron-based superconductor; BaFe₂S₃; laser-assisted floating zone technique; single crystal
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/11/7/758

The quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnetic insulator BaFe<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>S<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>3</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> becomes superconducting under a hydrostatic pressure of ∼10 GPa. Single crystals of this compound are usually obtained by melting and further slow cooling of BaS or Ba, Fe, and S, and are small and needle-shaped (few mm long and 50–200 μm wide). A notable sample dependence on the antiferromagnetic transition temperature, transport behavior, and presence of superconductivity has been reported. In this work, we introduce a novel approach for the growth of high-quality single crystals of BaFe<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>S<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>3</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> based on a laser-assisted floating zone method that yields large samples free of ferromagnetic impurities. We present the characterization of these crystals and the comparison with samples obtained using the procedure reported in the literature.