Investigation on the solubility, crystal growth, optical, laser damage threshold, NLO, photoluminescence and dielectric properties of pure and cadmium (Cd2+)-doped lithium sulfate monohydrate single crystals

Abstract

Single crystals of pure and cadmium-doped lithium sulphate monohydrate (LSMH) have been grown from aqueous solution by slow evaporation solution growth technique. The effect of metallic incorporation (Cd2+) on the crystal growth and characteristic properties of LSMH single crystal was studied. The grown crystals are subjected to powder X-ray diffraction studies to explore the structural properties of the pure and doped crystals. The dopant concentration of the crystal is estimated by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy. The crystal showed a 20% transmission enhancement on doping with Cd. Photoluminescence studies showed a violet fluorescence emission peak at 395 nm. The photoluminescence intensity of Cd-doped LSMH increased significantly to about 1.5 times that of pure LSMH. Laser damage threshold value and second-harmonic conversion efficiency of the grown crystals has been determined using Nd:YAG laser operating at 532 and 1064 nm, respectively. The multiple shot surface laser damage thresholds for pure and Cd-doped LSMH are found to be 6.9 GW/cm2 and 8.6 GW/cm2, respectively. Low dielectric loss and high dielectric constant shows that the grown crystal contains minimum defects.