Improvement in linear and nonlinear optical properties of L-arginine acetate single crystal with cadmium doping for photonic applications

Abstract

Pure and Cd-doped _L-arginine acetate crystals were grown from aqueous solution using the slow solvent evaporation technique. All the grown crystals crystallized in a monoclinic crystal system with a non-centrosymmetric space group P2₁. The presence of various functional groups in the compounds was identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The incorporation of the dopant in the doped crystal was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The optical transmission in the ultraviolet (UV)-visible region, the cut-off wavelength in the UV region, and the optical band gap were examined using UV–visible spectroscopy. An enhancement in second harmonic generation (SHG) emission in the doped crystal, compared to the pure crystal, was confirmed by SHG measurements. The doped crystal exhibited a higher laser damage threshold than the pure crystal. Thermal stability and antimicrobial activity of both pure and doped crystals were also studied and reported.