Effect of alkali halides on the growth, morphology, spectral, optical, thermal and nonlinear optical properties of potassium acid phthalate crystals for frequency conversion applications

Slow Evaporation Solution Growth Technique was employed for the growth of transparent alkali halide doped potassium acid phthalate crystals. The structure of the crystals was confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Powder X-ray diffraction analysis confirms the absence of multiple phases in the crystal and it suggests that the crystalline nature of the samples remain unaltered even after the addition of the dopants. Linear and nonlinear optical properties were examined by UV–Visible spectral analysis and Kurtz-Perry method of NLO testing respectively. The results of NLO test evokes that alkali halide doped crystals are phase matchable. The thermal stability of the grown crystals was assessed by TG/DTA analysis. The surface morphology of the grown crystals was studied by SEM analysis. EDX analysis provides the statistical information of the elemental composition of the samples from which the incorporation of the dopants is confirmed. In general the obtained results ensure that the title materials are desirable candidates for NLO applications.