Primary crystallization region of NaAl(MoO4)2, Cr3+ doping, crystal growth, and characterization

The main aim of this study was to determine the primary crystallization region of NaAl(MoO4)(2) (NAM) in its self-flux. We determined the saturation temperature isotherms of NAM and two neighboring phases, Na2Mo2O7 and Al-2(MoO4)(3), in the ternary system Na2O-Al2O3-MoO3. We have analyzed several growing conditions in an effort to optimize the quality of single crystals obtained by a top-seeded solution growth technique. In the present work, we studied the thermal behavior of undoped and Cr3+-doped crystal and found a reversible phase transition at about 780 K. We also studied the evolution of the cell parameters of NAM as a function of temperature between room temperature and 573 K, and the linear thermal expansion tensor was determined. Furthermore, we determined some optical properties, such as the transparency window of NaAl(MoO4)(2) and NaAl0.99Cr0.01(MoO4)(2), the UV cutoff for both materials, and the spectroscopic characterization of Cr3+ in this crystal.