Structure and optical characterization of Rochelle salt dye inclusion crystals and the fluorescence detection of their phase transitions

We describe the growth and spectroscopy of well-defined mixed crystals of sodium potassium tartrate (Rochelle salt) containing synthetic organic dyes in the {010} growth sectors. Our summary reevaluates historical dye inclusions and reveals others that we discovered. Absorption and emission spectroscopies with polarized light are used to characterize these mixed crystals. The temperature dependence of the fluorescence of included chromophores provide evidence of the ferroelectric phase transitions in the host crystals.