Enhanced Mechanical, Thermal, Surface, Self-Defocusing, Electro-Optic and Photoelastic Characteristics of Doped Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate Solitary Crystals for Optoelectronic Applications

Abstract

Potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) is an effective NLO substance. Much research has been concentrated on KDP crystals to increase the effectiveness of KDP's nonlinear optical property. The effectiveness of laser radiation conversion can be increased by altering its expansion. The excellent molecular chirality of organic acids is employed to improve the properties of KDP. Our main objective in this study was to describe the studies on the mechanical, thermal, surface, antibacterial, self-defocusing, and electro-optic properties of doped potassium dihydrogen phosphate solitary crystals for optical, electronic, and biological applications. The effect of itaconic acid (ITA) at concentrations ranging from 1, 3, and 5 mol% on the thermal, SEM, microhardness behaviors, NLO, antibacterial properties, and half-wave voltage of KDP (potassium dihydrogen phosphate) single crystals grown by the slow cooling technique. The existence of dopants was proved with energy-dispersive spectrometry. The mechanical properties of various temperatures for undoped and doped-KDP crystals with rising dopant combinations have been prepared, and the hardness was expanded due to doping. In contrast to several potentially dangerous microorganisms like Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli, the produced crystals were exposed to antibiotic activity. The superiority of the fully-fledged crystal is determined by the etching studies. Using the Z-scan method, the good third-order nonlinear response for different planes (2 0 0), (2 1 1), and (1 1 2) of the ITA-doped KDP crystal sample was determined. Half-wave voltage may be discovered in the crystal produced via electro-optic examination. The Z-scan analysis of pure and ITA-doped KDP crystals for different planes reveals good self-defocussing and NLO responses. The electro-optic experiment generated a significant and consistent half-wave voltage. The photoelastic behavior of KDP crystals with ITA as a variable birefringent compensator has been investigated.

Keywords:

• Low temperature solution growth
• hardness
• nonlinear optical materials
• etching
• half-wave voltage
• self-defocusing
• photoelastic studies

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Prof. D. Sastikumar for extending the facility for Z-scan measurement. The author acknowledges Prof. P. K. Das, IISc Bangalore, for the SHG facility. We sincerely thank the Nanotechnology Research Centre (NRC), SRMIST, and Kattankulathur for the powder XRD analysis. We also thank SRM Central Instrumentation Facility (SAIF), SRM IST, and Kattankulathur for SEM and EDS studies.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.