Single Crystal Growth of 4‐Aminobenzophenone (ABP) by Solution and Seeded Czochralski Pulling Techniques for Second Harmonic Generation Applications

Abstract

AbstractHighly efficient 4‐aminobenzophenone (ABP) single crystals are grown from melt by employing the seeded Czochralski pulling technique for second harmonic generation (SHG) applications. The as‐grown seed crystals from solution with dominant (100) and (001) facets are utilized to trigger the directional solidification. For successive growth, initial measurements of the furnace temperature distribution, heat flow structure, and solidification temperature of ABP in correlation with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis are made. The controlled diffusion is ensured by monitoring the interfacial layer between the melt and the growing crystal and is maintained by optimizing the melt temperature and pulling and rotation rates. Color change of the melt due to thermal‐oxidation is prevented by appropriate control of the growth environment. A slow and steady growth rate affirms the good quality of the ABP single crystal. The anisotropic growth behavior of ABP from solution and melt is reported. Internal molecular structure, crystalline purity, molecular vibrational modes, optical transmission, and thermal behavior are studied using single crystal and powder X‐ray diffraction, FTIR, UV–vis–NIR and DSC analyses. The obtained higher SHG efficiency of the grown ABP in comparison with that of the organic and inorganic standards urea and KDP reveals its suitability for SHG applications.