Growth, Structural, optical and hardness studies of lithium potassium sulphate single crystals – an inorganic NLO material

Abstract

Single crystal of lithium potassium sulphate, a nonlinear optical material, was grown from aqua solution by slow evaporation method at room temperature. The cell parameters were estimated by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The optical transmittance of the crystal was recorded using the UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and the optical band gap was calculated using this method. The second harmonic generation efficiency was measured by Kurtz and Perry powder technique and the phase-matching property was confirmed. The hardness of the material was measured by Vicker's hardness test.