Bauer A, Neubauer A, Münzer W, Regnat A, Benka G, Meven M, Pedersen B, Pfleiderer C
Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
Institut für Kristallographie, RWTH Aachen and Jülich Centre for Neutron Science at MLZ, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2016 Jun;87(6):063909. doi: 10.1063/1.4954926.
We report the design of a radio-frequency induction-heated rod casting furnace that permits the preparation of polycrystalline ingots of intermetallic compounds under ultra-high vacuum compatible conditions. The central part of the system is a bespoke water-cooled Hukin crucible supporting a casting mold. Depending on the choice of the mold, typical rods have a diameter between 6 mm and 10 mm and a length up to 90 mm, suitable for single-crystal growth by means of float-zoning. The setup is all-metal sealed and may be baked out. We find that the resulting ultra-high vacuum represents an important precondition for processing compounds with high vapor pressures under a high-purity argon atmosphere up to 3 bars. Using the rod casting furnace, we succeeded to prepare large high-quality single crystals of two half-Heusler compounds, namely, the itinerant antiferromagnet CuMnSb and the half-metallic ferromagnet NiMnSb.
