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Abstract
Oxide single crystals have been used during the last 100 years in very different industries. In the first 50 years the jewellery and watch industries were the main users of oxide single crystals like ruby, sapphire and spinel. At that time Europe was the main producer of oxide crystals. Production plants were in France, Switzerland and Germany. In the Second World War the aviation industry started to use these materials for instrumentation systems. This production was mainly in the USA, Russia and Germany. Today, the use of all kinds of oxide single crystals is well established within many industries. However, only a small range of crystals is used in very high quantities. These are crystals such as quartz, aluminium oxide, titanium dioxide, strontium titanate, lithium niobate and tantalate, BBO and garnets. The other crystal materials are widely developed at R&D centres and universities but not really in industrial production. Among the problems are the unstable market places and the rapid change in material specifications from OEM customers.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]