Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy single crystals grown using various crucibles

We grew Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy (Bi-2212) superconducting single crystals using various kinds of crucibles by a vertical Bridgman (VB) and a self-flux method. The plate-like single crystals with a size of 18.0 x 5.0 mm2 were grown by the VB method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the single crystals showed sharp (0 0 l) peaks which are assigned to a Bi-2212 superconductor. They indicated that the single crystals were Bi-2212 single-phase and had good crystallinity. The value of full width at half maximum (FWHM) for single crystals was 0.06o. The Bi-2212 crystal growth by the VB method using alumina crucible showed the critical temperature Tc of about 88 K for as-grown crystals, and the Tc of the crystal grown using MgO crucible was 90 K