Influence of La3+ ions on growth and NLO properties of KDP single crystals

Abstract

Single crystals of pure and Lanthanum added KDP crystals were grown from aqueous solution. The influence of La 3+ ions in KDP crystals is studied. Isolated centers are formed by La 3+ ions in KDP structure along (100) plane. La 3+ ions incorporated into superficial crystal growth layer and slightly affect the growth process as they generate weak lattice stresses. The creation of these weak lattice stress is confirmed by Vickers's micro hardness test. The HRXRD analysis showed reduced structural defects in the La added KDP in the (100) plane than pure KDP. The incorporation of La in the crystal was confirmed by EDAX analysis. The Kurtz's powder SHG efficiency was found to be 1.5 times that of pure KDP. The UV-Vis transmission spectra of La added KDP showed excellent transmittance from 1100 nm to 340 nm and did not show any change in lower cutoff wavelength with respect to pure KDP. Laser damage threshold value has been determined using Qswitched Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm and with 65 ns pulses in single shot mode.

Enhancement of stability of growth, structural and NLO properties of KDP crystals due to additive along with seed rotation

“…The only difference is the reduction of peak intensity of Figure 6 (b) which is mainly due to the fact that the specimen doped with CH 3 COOK is considerably lesser than that of specimen doped with K 3 C 6 H 5 O 7 . Our previous work reported that the FWHM of pure KDP crystal is 22 arc s [7]. From the figure 6, one can conclude that the crystalline quality of KDP crystal is improved by the addition of either K 3 C 6 H 5 O 7 or CH 3 COOK.…”

“…The addition of the dopants in the optimum HRXRD analysis Crystalline perfection has a strong influence on the efficiency of the physical properties of crystals [30]. Recently a lot of works reported that the changes in the crystalline perfection of KDP and ADP crystals by the effect of additives can analyzed by the high resolution XRD characterization technique [7,31,32]. A multicrystal X-ray diffractometer designed and developed at National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi [33] has been used to study the crystalline perfection of the single crystal(s).…”

“…However, this effect, typical of metal (M 2+ ) cations, is much weaker in the case of trivalent cations, which occupy the same interstitial position in the structure of KDP [17]. Our previous investigations reveal that the optimal addition of trivalent La 3+ ions considerably prevents these bivalent ions from entering into the crystal lattice and results in reduced defects and dislocations [7]. The most efficient additives are reagents with those metal ions that have the same properties as the bulk solutions, or the solution auxiliary which can change the properties of solution, such as viscosity, surface tension etc., but they should not sacrifice the optical qualities of crystals.…”

“…The growth and quality of KDP crystals are affected by many factors such as additives, solution supersaturation and pH value. The key importance in this context is additives, which influence the physical properties of the crystals like growth kinetics [4][5][6][7] and surface morphology of crystal faces [8][9][10]. Strong changes in growth kinetics and crystal morphology may be caused by even very low additive concentrations, 0.1-1 ppm [11,12].…”

Effect of Hippuric Acid on the Growth, Structural and Optical Properties of Non Linear Optical Crystals

“…This material attracts the many researchers probably because of their simple structure and many desirable properties associated with a hydrogen bond system involving a large isotopic effect, broad transparency range, high laser damage threshold and relatively low production cost [1,2].…”