Abstract: The convection driven by buoyancy is weaken in microgravity environment. It is possible to obtain a high-quality and large-scale crystal by using floating zone method without pollution and shear from wall of the container in space. The convection driven by surface-tension gradient at the free surface, called as thermocapillary convection, will be dominant in microgravity environment. The half floating zone has been used as one of the models to study thermocapillary convection since the end of 1970s. The exp...