Effects of electric field and doping on crystal growth of potassium dihydrogen phopshate

Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate (KDP) has the property of non-linear optical (NLO) materials. Room temperature slow evaporation technique was used to grow transparent and good quality pure and l-Arginine (2mol%) doped KDP crystals in the presence and absence of electric field. Powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms its crystal structure with the help of FullProf Suite software. Dielectric behaviour and d. c. conductivity of crystals had been studied in the temperature range of 323 K–373 K with a frequency range of 100 Hz to 1 MHz. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to confirm presence of l-Arginine in the doped crystals. Photoluminescence studies were studied to confirm the presence of intrinsic impurities through color centres and to identify lattice defects. The Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) efficiency has been enhanced in the l-Arginine (2mol%) doped KDP crystals grown in the presence of an electric field. •Effect of electric field during growth process can remarkably affect the growth behaviour of non-centrosymmetric crystals.•Such crystals exhibit significant modification of morphology and are useful for getting crystals of preferred orientation.•The crystals grown under electric field exhibit significant enhancement in their nonlinear activity, i.e. SHG efficiency.