Stoichiometric YFe2O4-\delta\ single crystals grown by the optical floating zone method

Abstract

We report the growth of YFe2O4-\delta\ single crystals by the optical floating zone method, showing for the first time the same magnetization as highly stoichiometric (\delta = 0.00) powder samples and sharp superstructure reflections in single crystal x-ray diffraction. The latter can be attributed to three dimensional long-range charge ordering. Resonant x-ray diffraction at the Fe K-edge with full linear polarization analysis was used for the investigation of the possibility of orbital order.