MgHg(SeO3)2(H2O)2: A magnesium mercury selenite with large birefringence

Abstract

Selenite crystalline materials have been popular owing to the diverse structures and optical performances. A new mercury selenite, MgHg(SeO3)2(H2O)2, was synthesized by using a conventional hydrothermal method. It crystallizes in the monoclinic structure with a C2/c space group, MgHg(SeO3)2(H2O)2 exhibits a three-dimensional (3D) structure, which is made up of [Hg(SeO3)2]2–∞ chains and distorted MgO4(H2O)2 octahedra. Besides, it presents a large birefringence of 0.137 @ 546 nm according to experimental measurement. Synthesis, crystal structure, thermal stability, optical property measurements and theoretical studies were performed in this work.