Studies on surface micromorphology and growth mechanism of nonlinear optical crystal: l-arginine hydrochlorobromo monohydrate

Chemical etching technique has been used for the first time to reveal dislocation structure of the l-arginine hydrochlorobromo monohydrate, C6H14N4O2HClBr.H2O crystal on the polished {1 0 0}, {0 1 0} and {0 0 1} faces. Fast dissolving etchants could produce etch pits only on the 'F' faces but they have no effect on the 'S' face. Selective behaviour of the etchants for revealing inclined dislocations and cooperating spirals has been demonstrated. Presence of growth spirals on (1 0 0) face indicates that growth of this face is governed by screw dislocation mechanism.