Rare earth hexaborides: large single crystals

Single crystals of the rare earth hexaborides have been grown successfully by the floating zone technique using a high-power Xenon arc Image furnace. Large, high-quality crystals up to I cc in volume have been obtained for several rare earth hexaborides by this method. Crystals of these compounds have also been grown using enriched B-11 isotope for use in neutron scattering studies. The crystal growth and characterisation of these crystals are reported in the paper. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved