Influence of rare earth doping on the spectral, thermal, morphological, and optical properties of nonlinear optical single crystals of manganese mercury thiocyanate, MnHg(SCN)4

Abstract

Good optical grade single crystals of pure, lanthanum (La3+) and neodymium (Nd3+) doped manganese mercury thiocyanate (MMTC) crystals were grown from aqueous solution by slow solvent evaporation technique at room temperature. Single crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) data reveal that the grown crystals belong to the tetragonal system with space group I4¯. The crystals were characterized using Optical absorption (UV–vis–NIR), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), Fourier Transform Raman (FT-Raman) spectral studies, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), Dielectric and Thermal studies. The second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiencies of the grown crystals were also measured using Kurtz and Perry powder technique. The non linear optical (NLO) activity of the pure MMTC was slightly enhanced due to rare earth dopants.