Top-seeded solution growth of monomethylurea single crystals

It was previously reported on the growth of monomethylurea (NMU) single crystals from methanol solution by a mechanical limitation-direction (MLD) technique in which long (100) oriented seeds, capped on their extremities, were employed. The crystals obtained by this technique, in spite of their good structural and optical quality, presented their core region, in which the seed was located, with a higher density of structural defects and henceforth a reduced cross section useful for optical applications. It is here referred to a new, top-seeded growth configuration, devised on the basis of a preliminary PBC analysis for assessing the morphological importance of the crystal faces experimentally observed during crystal growth, which allows to grow NMU crystals in which the defected core region is removed for almost the entire length of the crystal.