Abstract
The discovery of superconductivity at temperatures above the boiling point of nitrogen has led to intense interest in the physics and chemistry of materials exhibiting this behaviour. Although some experiments can be performed on sintered polycrystalline samples, large single crystals are important for many measurements of physical properties, including investigations of the relationship between structural parameters and superconducting properties. Like its predecessors YB2Cu3O7 (refs 1–4) and La2–xSrxCuO4 (ref. 5), the recently discovered 84-K bismuth–strontium–calcium cuprate superconductor6–9 melts incon-gruently, and crystals have been grown from eutectic melts10. This technique yields crystals large enough for some experiments, but is generally difficult to control, placing limits on the size of crystals that can be grown. In addition, the crystals must be mechanically separated from the melt. Here we report the growth of single crystals of Bi2.2Sr2Ca0.8Cu2O8+δ from alkali chloride fluxes. The crystals are superconductors, showing large Meissner effects and zero-resistance transitions above 80 K. Flux growth is a standard high-temperature solution growth technique, and should allow crystal size and quality to be controlled by parameters such as equilibration temperature, cooling rate and melt composition. The fluxes reported here are easily washed from the crystals.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wu, M. K. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 908–910 (1987).
Cava, R. J. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 1676–1678 (1987).
Schneemeyer, L. F. et al. Nature 328, 601–603 (1987).
Kaiser, D. L., Holtzberg, F., Scott, B. A. & McGuire, T. R. Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 1040–1042 (1987).
Hidaka, Y., Enomoto, Y., Suzuki, M., Oda, M. 8 Murakami, T. J. Crystal Growth 85, 581 (1987).
Maeda, H., Tanaka, Y., Fukutomi, M. & Asano, T. Jap. J. appl. Phys. (in the press).
Hazen, R. M. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. (submitted).
Sunshine, S. A. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. (submitted).
Tarascon, J. M. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. (submitted).
High-Tc Update 2(5), 2 (1988).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schneemeyer, L., van Dover, R., Glarum, S. et al. Growth of superconducting single crystals in the Bi–Sr–Ca–Cu–O system from alkali chloride fluxes . Nature 332, 422–424 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332422a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/332422a0
This article is cited by
-
Ted Geballe and HTSC
Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism (2020)
-
Role of vanadium in Bi-2223 ceramics
Pramana (2000)
-
Defect chemistry and oxygen transport in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+? derived from conductivity, polarization, and hall effect measurements
Journal of Superconductivity (1996)
-
Superconductivity and morphological studies on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 single crystals grown from stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric melts
Bulletin of Materials Science (1991)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.