Growth, structural, thermal, linear and nonlinear optical and laser damage threshold studies of Picolinium tartrate monohydrate single crystals

Picolinium tartrate monohydrate (PTM), a novel organic nonlinear optical material was synthesized and bulk crystals were grown from aqueous solution by slow cooling technique. The cell parameters of the grown crystal were found by single and powder X-ray diffraction analyses. The crystalline perfection of the grown crystals has been analyzed by high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) rocking curve measurements. The presence of functional groups in the grown crystal was identified by FTIR and FT-Raman spectral analyses. UV–Vis spectral studies reveal PTM crystals are transparent in the wavelength region of 295–1100 nm. The thermal characteristics of PTM were analyzed by TGA/DTA studies. The dielectric and mechanical behaviours of PTM crystals were investigated. Dislocation density was estimated to be 2.89 × 103 cm−2 on the flat-surface of PTM crystals from the etching studies. The laser induced surface damage threshold for the grown crystal was measured using Nd:YAG laser. Its second harmonic generation relative efficiency was measured by Kurtz and Perry powder technique and was observed to be comparable with KDP crystal.

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► Picolinium tartrate monohydrate, a novel organic nonlinear optical crystal has been grown by slow cooling technique.
► Structural analyses reveal that PTM crystallizes in orthorhombic crystal system with space group P212121.
► Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses reveal that PTM crystal thermally stable up to 100 °C.
► Laser damage threshold value of PTM was found to be 6.8 GW/cm2 by Nd:YAG laser.
► Relative SHG efficiency of PTM was found to be 0.5 times that of KDP crystal.