Unidirectional growth of <101>glycine zinc chloride single crystal by Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy method

Single crystals of glycine zinc chloride (GZC), a semi-organic compound, were grown by conventional as well as unidirectional Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy (SR) methods. Transparent GZC crystal of diameter 15 mm and length 50 mm was obtained by employing SR growth method. The average growth rate along <101> is 0.32 mm/day and 1.25 mm/day for crystals grown by conventional and SR methods. The crystals grown by conventional and SR methods were analyzed using chemical etching, UV-Vis and Vickers microhardness. The results show that SR method grown crystals exhibit higher transmittance and hardness possessing less dislocation density as against crystals grown by conventional method.