Crystal growth, structural, thermal, optical and laser damage threshold studies of 8-hydroxyquinolinium hydrogen maleate single crystals

Organic nonlinear optical crystal, 8-hydroxyquinolinium hydrogen maleate (8-HQM) with a dimension of 30×4×4 mm3 was grown by the slow evaporation solution growth technique. The cell parameters of grown crystal were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and it belongs to the noncentrosymmetric space group P212121. The crystalline perfection of 8-HQM crystal was examined by high resolution X-ray diffraction studies. UV-vis transmittance studies confirm the optical transparency window in the (480-900 nm) region. The TGA/DTA thermal measurements reveal that 8-HQM is thermally stable up to 160 °C. The laser damage threshold value of 8-HQM crystal was estimated to be 1.2 GW/cm2 using a Nd:YAG laser. The relative second harmonic generation efficiency of 8-HQM crystal was found to be seven times greater than that of KDP.