%0 Journal Article
%A Bauer, A.
%A Neubauer, A.
%A Münzer, W.
%A Regnat, A.
%A Benka, G.
%A Meven, M.
%A Pedersen, B.
%A Pfleiderer, C.
%T Ultra-high vacuum compatible induction-heated rod casting furnace
%J Review of scientific instruments
%V 87
%N 6
%@ 1089-7623
%C [S.l.]
%I American Institute of Physics
%M FZJ-2016-06935
%P 063909 -
%D 2016
%X 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.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000379177000056
%$ pmid:27370472
%R 10.1063/1.4954926
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/824326