Bulk Growth and Characterization of Semiorganic Nonlinear Optical l-Alanine Cadmium Chloride Single Crystal by Modified Sankaranarayanan−Ramasamy Method

Abstract

An optically transparent bulk nonlinear optical active single crystal of l-alanine cadmium chloride was grown up to a dimension of 100 mm length and 15 mm diameter with the aid of a modified uniaxial Sankaranarayanan−Ramasamy crystal growth method along the (101) plane. The crystal was subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis to confirm that the crystal belongs to the monoclinic system. The incorporation of cadmium and chlorine in the crystal lattice was confirmed using energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). The spiral growth-steps of the crystal along the (101) plane were observed using scanning electron microscopy. The Vickers microhardness test establishes improvement of hardness along the growth axis. Prevalence of space charge polarization was enunciated by dielectric measurements along the (101) plane for different temperatures 308, 328, 348 and 368 K.