Investigation of gamma radiation effect on chemical properties and surface morphology of some nonlinear optical (NLO) single crystals

The effect of Co-60 gamma irradiation on l-alanine cadmium chloride (LACC), l-alanine doped potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate (KDP) and l-arginine doped KDP nonlinear optical (NLO) single crystals were studied in doses ranging from 100 krad to 6 Mrad. The crystals were grown by slow evaporation method at room temperature. The effects of gamma irradiation on the chemical, surface morphology, DC electrical conductivity, thermal and mechanical properties of the grown crystals have been studied. The functional groups of unirradiated and irradiated crystals have been identified and confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) studies. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of irradiated crystals shows some morphological changes in the crystals. The dc conductivity of LACC and l-alanine doped KDP crystals were found to increase with increase in radiation dose whereas in case of l-arginine doped KDP crystals, the dc conductivity was found to decrease with increase in radiation dose. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms reveals that there is no significant change in the melting point of the crystals after irradiation and the crystals does not decompose as a result of irradiation. The mechanical behavior of both unirradiated and irradiated crystals is explained with the indentation effects using Vicker's microhardness tester. The Vicker's hardness number HV and Mayer's index 'n' has been estimated and confirms that LACC belong to the hard materials.