Nucleation kinetics, growth and analysis of structural, optical, dielectric and mechanical properties of nonlinear optical material: l-proline manganese chloride

l-proline manganese chloride (LPMC), an organo-metallic compound, was successfully grown from its aqueous solution by slow evaporation technique. The growth condition was optimized using nucleation kinetics. The grown crystal was subjected to XRD study to determine the crystal structure. The microstructure of the grown crystal and the presence of various elements in the crystal were studied using SEM and EDAX techniques. The UV-vis-NIR spectral analysis was carried out to measure the transparent range of the LPMC crystal. The modes of vibrations of different molecular groups present in the sample were identified using FTIR spectral analysis. The dielectric studies of the sample were carried out at different temperatures in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 5 MHz. The mechanical strength of the crystal was analyzed by Vickers hardness test. The second harmonic generation efficiency (SHG) was evaluated both theoretically and experimentally to understand the NLO activity of the grown crystal.