Studies of Cerium Doped L-Alanine Alaninium Nitrate NLO Crystal

M. Esthaku Peter, Seblewongel Getachew, Betelhem Alemu, Eleni Binalfeus, Getahun Leliso, Tirngo Abay

Abstract: Cerium-doped alanine alaninium nitrate, a nonlinear optical single crystal, was grown by solution growth method and characterized in view of finding changes in its properties. The crystal structure and space group were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction and linear, nonlinear optical properties were studied by UV-Vis-NIR and SHG analysis respectively. The surface hardness and thermal studies were performed by Vicker’s microhardness tester and TG/DTA analysis in order to reveal the stability of the grown crystal. Moreover, the incorporation of the cerium element due to the doping of ammonium cerium nitrate into the parent compound l-alanine alaninium nitrate was identified by EDAX analysis.

Keywords: Crystal growth, X-ray diffraction, Nonlinear optical crystals, Recrystallization, Harmonic generation