Growth, crystalline perfection, optical, thermal, laser damage threshold and electrical characterization of melaminium levulinate monohydrate single crystal

Equimolar amounts of melamine and levulinic acid results an organic crystal of melaminium levulinate monohydrate (MLM) at room temperature. MLM belongs to a monoclinic crystal structure having P21/c space group which was confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction study. Functional groups present in the MLM crystal were identified by FT-IR spectral study. HRXRD study dictates the quality of MLM crystal. UV-visble spectrum of MLM reveals the lower cut-off wavelength of 293 nm with 55% optical transparency and optical band gap was found to be 4.20 eV for the prominent plane (1 0 −1). Refractive indices for the three axes of MLM crystal were found to be nx=2.6, ny=2.4 and nz=2.2 respectively. Further the thermal stability and melting point of MLM crystal were investigated by TG/DTA study. Dielectric permittivity tensor components were estimated for the planes (1 0 −1), (0 1 0) and (1 1 1) respectively. The thermal conductivity of the crystal by Wiedemann-Franz law was found to be 5.99×10-11 W/mK at 70 °C. LDT value (2.84 GW/cm2) of MLM was estimated for laser optical device applications.