Single-crystal sapphire microstructure for high-resolution synchrotron X-ray monochromators

Abstract

We report on the growth and characterization of several sapphire single crystals for the purpose of x-ray optics applications. Structural defects were studied by means of laboratory double-crystal X-ray diffractometry and white beam synchrotron-radiation topography. The investigations confirmed that the main defect types are dislocations. The best quality crystal was grown using the Kyropoulos technique with a dislocation density of 102-103 cm-2 and a small area with approximately 2*2 mm2 did not show dislocation contrast in many reflections and has suitable quality for application as a backscattering monochromator. A clear correlation between growth rate and dislocation density is observed, though growth rate is not the only parameter impacting the quality.