Investigation on the growth aspects and properties of rubidium hydrogen succinate hydrate single crystal for NLO applications

Abstract

A novel semiorganic nonlinear optical single crystal of rubidium hydrogen succinate hydrate (RbHSH) was grown at room temperature using the slow evaporation solution growth technique (SEST) with water as a solvent for nonlinear optical applications. The grown crystal is a triclinic system with a centrosymmetric space group of P and the compound is stabilized by intramolecular O–H–O and C–H–O bonding. FTIR spectral studies were used to determine the various functional groups present in the material. The optical transmission spectra of the grown crystal demonstrated that a transparency of 89%, with a low cut off wavelength of 240 nm and an energy band gap of 5.21 eV, which is beneficial to developing advanced photonic and optoelectronic devices in the solar blind UV area. The grown crystal is thermally stable upto 174 °C. The electrical properties of RbHSH crystal exhibit low dielectric loss and a low dielectric constant at high frequencies tends to have good optical characteristics. Mechanical analysis demonstrated that the grown crystal shows the normal indentation size effect (ISE) and falls into the hard material category with n = 1.4. Photoconductivity measurements revealed negative photoconductivity. Photoluminescence studies showed that RbHSH emits blue light with a wavelength of 484 nm. Hirshfeld surface analysis was used to analyze intermolecular interactions in the RbHSH crystal. The grown RbHSH crystal piezoelectric charge coefficient have been calculated (d₃₃ = 13 pC N⁻¹) and it is suitable for piezoelectric device applications. Under continuous-wave laser excitation, the third order nonlinear refractive index (n₂), absorption coefficient (β), and susceptibility (χ⁽³⁾) of the RbHSH crystal were found to be 1.6639 × 10⁻¹² (cm² W⁻¹), 1.1739 × 10⁻⁵ (cm W⁻¹) and 4.86331 × 10⁻⁹ esu, respectively.