High-quality single crystal growth of uranium-based intermetallics

Single crystals of various uranium-based intermetallics such as UPt(3), UPd(2)Al(3), U(6)Fe, URu(2)Si(2), etc., were grown by the Czochralski pulling method in a tetra-are furnace. Subsequent annealing treatment by the solid-state electrotransport (SSE) method under ultra-high vacuum is found to be quite effective for compounds UPt(3) and CeRu(2). The residual resistivity ratio (RRR) of CeRu(2) has been improved from 30 to about 300 after the SSE treatment. In the case of UPt(3), the best annealing temperature is about 900 degrees C, where RRR is increased up to 640. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.