Growth and characterization of l-histidine nitrate single crystal, a promising semiorganic NLO material

Bulk single crystal, l-histidine nitrate (LHN), was obtained by the temperature-lowering method. The solubility curve of LHN was measured in distilled water. The LHN crystal was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectra, thermal analyses, UV–vis spectra, microhardness and optical property. The transmission spectra of LHN crystal show lower UV cutoff wavelength lies at 320 nm. SHG intensity of LHN crystal is 1.5 times greater than that of KDP.