Process Development and Characterization of 2-Aminopyridine Potassium Dihydrogen Orthophosphate (2APKDP) Crystal

A good optical quality bulk size defect free crystal of 2-aminopyridine potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate (2APKDP) was successfully grown from aqueous solution by slow evaporation solution growth technique at room temperature. The presence of functional groups in synthesized compound was identified by FT-IR analysis. Powder XRD pattern of 2APKDP crystal confirms the crystalline nature and (h k l) values are indexed. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the 2APKDP crystal crystallizes in tetragonal crystal system with noncentrosymmetric space group I4. Grown crystals has lower cut off wavelength 290 nm which is confirmed by UVvisible absorption studies and optical band gap was calculated using UV-vis-NIR spectrum data. The mechanical strength of the grown crystals was tested by Vicker‟s microhardness tester. The second order nonlinear optical property of the grown sample was analyzed by Kurtz-Perry powder technique. As grown 2APKDP crystal has high SHG efficiency which is 1.2 times that of known KDP. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of grown 2APKDP crystal has been studied. A laser damage threshold study was carried out for 2APKDP crystal. Keywords— Solution growth; non-centrosymmetric crystal; Band gap; SHG efficiency; LDT.