Growth and characterization of d-alanine alaninium bromide crystals

The single crystals of d-alanine alaninium bromide (DAAB), a semiorganic nonlinear optical material has been grown successfully from aqueous solution by slow evaporation solution growth technique. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the grown crystal belongs to the monoclinic system. The crystalline nature and its various planes of reflections were observed by powder XRD analysis. Thermal studies reveal that the crystal is stable up to 100 °C. The functional groups of the grown crystal were determined by FTIR spectral analysis. The existence of second harmonic generation signals was observed using Nd:YAG laser with fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm possessing SHG efficiency of 1.7 times of KDP. The optical transmittance window and the lower cutoff wavelength of the DAAB have been identified by UV-vis-NIR studies. The mechanical property of the grown crystal studied using Vickers microhardness measurement reveals that the crystal is a soft material. The encouraging results show that the DAAB crystals have great potential applications in optical devices.