Modification of optical properties of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate crystal by employing shock waves

Abstract

We describe the investigation into tailoring the optical properties of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) crystal by the influence of mild shock waves (Mach number 1.7) produced by a shock tube. An ADP crystal was grown by employing the Sankaranarayana–Ramasamy method with (101) orientation. The test crystal was subjected to different numbers of shock pulses such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, respectively. Pre- and post-shock wave-loaded test crystals were experimented with a ultraviolet-visible spectrometer for recording the optical transmission. From the observed results, it is known that, on increasing shock pulses, optical transmission is enhanced from 55% to 66% in such a way that optimization is attained. Thereafter, it reduces to 47% by further increasing the number of applied shock waves. Following the optical transmission, optical constants such as extinction coefficient, optical density, skin depth, real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant, optical conductivity, and electrical conductivity are also greatly altered if the ADP crystal is exposed to shock pulses. From this experiment, an alternative way to boost the optical properties of an ADP crystal without modifying the original crystal system and without adding any dopants is proposed.