Abstract
MgO single crystals with diameters between 3.5 and 5 mm and lengths up to 40 mm were grown by the optical floating zone technique (OFZ). Despite challenging material properties such as the high melting point of 2825°C, very high evaporation rate and perfect {100} cleaving characteristics, crack-free crystals were grown at high growth rates exceeding 40 mm h(-1) and at high thermal gradients. Chemical investigations revealed that the OFZ technique is suitable for the preparation of substrate crystals with a purity of 5N to facilitate the development of novel demonstrator devices based on epitaxially grown thin films. The achieved purity level is improved by more than one order of magnitude if compared to commercial MgO substrate single crystals graded as high purity.