A systematic investigation on the effect of purity of raw material, crucible and crucible design on the single crystal growth of undoped and Eu doped SrI2.

• Impurity in raw materials/quartz crucible affects the quality of grown crystals. • Crucible designs play a crucial role for nucleation and further crystal growth. • High purity raw materials/fused quartz crucibles are vital for SrI 2 crystal growth. We report a systematic study on the growth of pure and Eu doped SrI 2 single crystals by Bridgman technique. The effect of various parameters pertaining to the impurity in raw material as well as in crucibles on the quality of the grown crystal has been experimentally checked and documented. Further we have also studied that nucleation behavior changes with selection of crucibles design. We have established that high purity raw material and OH free high pure fused quartz crucible enables the growth of good quality single crystal of pure SrI 2 and lower concentration of Eu doped SrI 2 without putting much effort in designing of crucible or furnace. For higher concentration of Eu doped SrI 2 single crystal growth, modification in crucible design is required to grow good quality single crystals. We believe that this work will guide young researchers struggling in growth of good quality single crystals of similar alkali halide scintillators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]