Growth, Optical, Thermal, Mechanical, Laser Damage Threshold and Electrical Polarizability of Cadmium Chloride Doped l-Alanine (LACC) Single Crystal for Optoelectronic Applications

l-Alanine doped with cadmium chloride crystal was grown by slow evaporation technique in an optimum condition using de-ionized water as solvent. Single crystal x-ray diffraction analysis was carried out to confirm the unit cell parameters and cell volume. The presence of amine vibrations and carboxylic acid vibrations affirm the presence of l-alanine in grown material by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis. The ultraviolet visible near-infrared region (UV-Vis-NIR) spectrum revealed that the grown crystal has a lower cut-off wavelength at 246 nm and has high transmission in the entire visible region. Further, energy gap and the refractive index of the crystal were also calculated. Thermo-gravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were carried out, and it is estimated that the material is thermally stable up to 233 degrees C and the melting point of the crystal was found to be 298 degrees C. The mechanical strength of the material is estimated for various loads using Vicker's microhardness and it reveals that material belongs to a soft material category. The electrical polarizability was calculated using known values such as valence electron, molecular weight, energy gap and density of the material. Z-scan technique for nonlinear studies was carried out on a LACC crystal to determine the third order nonlinear absorption (beta), nonlinear refractive index (n(2)) and third order nonlinear susceptibility (chi((3))) using continuous wave Nd: YAG laser of 532 nm. Grown crystal shows that the material is very much suitable for second harmonic generation for frequency conversion applications.