Structural, optical properties and effect of amino acid on growth of KDP crystals

KDP is a well known non-linear optical (NLO) material with different applications. Most of the amino acids also exhibit NLO property. In the present study, pure and 5 wt% L-arginine mixed KDP crystals have been grown by slow evaporation technique. Good quality single crystal with dimension 14.0×8.0×3.0 mm was harvested after 15 days. The grown crystal was characterized by various characterizations. The lattice parameters and crystalline symmetry were confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction studies. The mixing of L-arginine was confirmed by FT-IR. The transmittance of KDP was found to increase in the presence of L-arginine. Vickers microhardness tests were performed to study the mechanical stability of the crystals.