Bulk growth of ninhydrin single crystals by solvent evaporation method and its characterization for SHG and THG applications.

Ninhydrin is a well-known compound generally used in amino acid synthesis and also for detecting the latent fingerprints on porous surfaces. Single crystals can be grown by dissolving the compound in double distilled water at ambient temperature, and can be used as a potential material for second and third harmonic generation applications. The grown specimen was subjected to different characterization techniques in order to find out its suitability for device fabrication. Its lattice dimensions have been confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction and its crystalline quality has been assessed by high resolution X-ray diffraction and X-ray topography methods. The presence of functional groups was identified from HETCOR analysis and confirmed the absence of impurities during crystallization. Its optical properties have been examined by photoluminescence and birefringence analyses. Its thermal parameters such as thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity and specific capacity have been carried out by following photopyroelectric method. Third order nonlinear optical measurements have been carried out using Z-scan technique and its nonlinear optical absorption coefficient has been determined.
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