Optical and dielectric properties of nitrophenolate based nonlinear optical crystal

A semi-organic nonlinear optical (NLO) material, lithium-p-nitrophenolate trihydrate (LPNP) was synthesized. Single crystals of dimensions 20 × 7 × 3 mm³ were harvested following the solvent evaporation technique. The functional groups present in the compound were identified from FT-IR and FT-Raman spectral analyses, and its molecular structure was confirmed. Identification of the compound was accomplished by X-ray diffraction technique (powder and single crystal XRD). The unit-cell dimensions and the morphology of the grown crystals were identified from single crystal XRD measurements. The thermal transport properties, thermal effusivity (e), thermal diffusivity (α), thermal conductivity (k) and heat capacity (C _p) were measured by the photopyroelectric technique at room temperature. Dielectric constant and dielectric loss were also measured as a function of frequency between 42 Hz and 5 MHz, and temperature between 32 and 100 °C. From optical transmittance measurements, the direct optical band gap of the LPNP crystal was estimated to be 2.47 eV. Laser damage threshold is 60.91 GW cm⁻². Powder second harmonic generation (SHG) measurement was carried out using a modified Kurtz–Perry technique. Third order nonlinear response was studied using Z-scan technique with a He–Ne laser (632.8 nm, 35 mW). The magnitude and the sign of the nonlinear absorption and nonlinear refraction are derived from a transmittance curve. The NLO parameters Intensity dependent refractive index n ₂, nonlinear absorption coefficient β and third order susceptibility χ⁽³⁾ were estimated.