Optical, dielectric and photoconductivity studies of bis(dimethylsulfoxide) tetrathiocyanato-cadmium(II) mercury(II) NLO single crystals

Nonlinear optical single crystals of bis(dimethylsulfoxide) tetrathiocyanato-cadmium(II) mercury(II), [CdHg(SCN)(4)(H6C2OS)(2)] (CMTD); a novel nonlinear optical material was conveniently grown from a DMSO-water mixed solvent by slow solvent evaporation technique. The grown crystals were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffractometry (XRD), FT-Raman, FT-IR and optical absorption spectrum. The microhardness test of the sample revealed that the crystal belong to the hard category of materials. The dielectric response of the crystal with varying frequencies was studied and reported. The photoconductivity studies confirmed the negative photoconducting nature of the crystal. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.