Method for making a bonded sapphire structure

A method for making a single crystal structure, the method comprising:

• growing a single crystal ribbon containing a plurality of lattice unit cells repeated substantially throughout, the unit cells having a periodic arrangement of atoms defining a set of lattice planes;
• machining at least one single crystal panel from the ribbon;
• selecting a plurality of single crystal components, including the at least one panel, having the lattice unit cell repeated substantially throughout the single crystal components;
• determining the orientations of the lattice planes relative to each component;
• machining each component along at least one of the set of lattice planes to define a pair of interface surfaces thereon;
• applying bonding material to each interface surface;
• assembling the components at their respective interface surfaces such that each pair of matching interface surfaces have an orientation substantially aligned along a common one of the set of lattice planes;
• and
• heating the components per a predetermined temperature profile until the bonding material melts and fuses the components together.