Conventional slow evaporation and Sankaranarayanan–Ramasamy (SR) method grown diglycine zinc chloride (DGZC) single crystal and its comparative study

Diglycine zinc chloride, a semi-organic nonlinear optical crystal was grown by conventional slow evaporation and Sankaranarayanan–Ramasamy method. By employing this unidirectional method, diglycine zinc chloride single crystals of diameters 10, 30 and length up to 60 mm were grown. The growth conditions have been optimized. A maximum growth rate of 1.5 mm per day was realized. A comparative damage threshold analysis made on the diglycine zinc chloride crystals by conventional and unidirectional method shows that the crystal grown by Sankaranarayanan–Ramasamy method has higher damage threshold. The conventional and Sankaranarayanan–Ramasamy method grown diglycine zinc chloride crystals were also characterized by chemical etching, UV–vis analysis, dielectric constant, dielectric loss, Vicker’s microhardness analysis and the results were compared. The present study indicates that the crystal quality of Sankaranarayanan–Ramasamy method grown diglycine zinc chloride is good compared to conventional slow evaporation method grown crystal.