Growth, thermal and mechanical properties of new nonlinear optical barium bis-paranitrophenolate paranitrophenol tetrahydrate single crystal

Barium bis paranitrophenolate paranitrophenol tetrahydrate, a new semiorganic nonlinear optical single crystal has been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique at room temperature of 30 °C. Crystal of dimensions of 29 mm × 11 mm × 5 mm was obtained in a period of 30 days. X-ray diffraction analysis reveal the newness of the crystal structure belonging to the orthorhombic class with lattice parameters a = 19.899(5) Å, b = 28.019(8) Å, c = 10.745(4) Å and α = β = γ = 90°. The grown crystal is examined for its nonlinear optical nature with Kurtz powder technique after being sieved for particle sizes between 5 and 100 μm and analyzed for its thermal and mechanical properties. The effective nonlinear optical coefficient being 16 times greater than that of KDP crystal, good thermal stability up to 120 °C with the Meyer's constant n < 2 helps fashion the crystal towards device geometry.