Crystal growth and optical studies on a semi organic nonlinear optical material for laser blue-green generation

In recent days amino acid single crystals are gaining importance due to good optical behavior. The title compound l-alanine lithium chloride (LAL), a semi-organic nonlinear optical material has been grown by slow evaporation technique. The material was characterized by single crystal XRD and FT-IR spectroscopic analysis. The growth mechanism and surface features are investigated by optical microscopic techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The etching study indicates the occurrence of different types of etch pit patterns like striations, triangular etch pits and step like pattern. The UV–Vis transmittance spectrum shows that it has a good transmittance in the entire visible region with the lower cutoff wavelength at 252 nm. Fluorescence spectral studies were carried out for LAL crystal. The SHG conversion efficiency and laser damage threshold were measured using an Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm).