While high-temperature flux growth has produced large EuAl 3 (BO 3 ) 4 crystals, utilizing a different synthesis route would eliminate flux inclusions. Microwave-assisted sintering is one alternative. Heating with a conventional microwave has shown promise as a rapid and energy-efficient synthesis technique for inorganic compounds, even for those difficult to produce with typical high-temperature solidstate synthesis. By exploring new synthesis routes and probing the material's varied potential defects, a more informed analysis of its inhomogeneous linewidth, coherence time, and luminescence lifetime can be made.