Spectral, optical, thermal and mechanical studies on l-Histidine oxalate crystals

Single crystals of l-Histidine oxalate were grown using the submerged-seed solution method. Good optical quality single crystals of dimensions 4.0×2.0×2.0mm3 have been obtained by adopting the above technique. The crystals were characterized by the single crystal X-ray diffraction to determine the lattice parameters. Spectroscopic, thermal and optical studies were also carried out for analyzing the presence of the functional groups, thermal stability, decomposition and transparency of the sample. These studies show that the crystals are thermally stable up to 248°C and transparent for the fundamental and second harmonic generation of Nd:YAG (λ=1064nm) laser. Second harmonic generation (SHG) conversion efficiency was investigated to explore the nonlinear optical (NLO) characteristics of this material. The microhardness study was also carried out to find the hardness of the material.