Abstract
The challenges in exploring new nonlinear (NLO) materials were productively conquered by many researchers since long time in terms of novel methods and materials. Still continuous efforts are being made to explore novel NLO materials and the derivatives of the prominent materials which are previously reported. In this context, the growth of ammonium iodate doped L-alanine [LAAI] single crystals grown from aqueous solution was reported. The grown crystal was examined through different characterization tools. The structural analysis shows that it is an orthorhombic crystal with the noncentrosymmetric space group P21. The powder diffraction study shows that the crystals are of well crystalline nature and from Williamson-Hall plot the lattice strain and crystallite size were evaluated. The presence of various functional groups and mode of vibrations were identified by FTIR spectroscopy. UV-vis absorption study of the grown crystal shows that the crystal has UV cut-off at 303 nm and the calculation of the Urbach energy is also reported. The thermal strength and the different decomposition stages of the grown crystal were studied using TG/DTA analysis. The Kurtz powder test confirmed the nonlinear optical (NLO) property of the grown crystal. The dielectric parameters as a function of applied frequency were evaluated and through Vicker's hardness test we measured the mechanical strength of the crystal.