Electronic, nonlinear optical and optical limiting properties of 2-amino-3-(1H-imidazole-4-yl) propanoic tetrafluoroborate (2A3PT) single crystal

A semi-organic nonlinear optical (NLO) single crystal of 2-amino 3-(1H-imidazole-4-yl) propanoictetrafluoroborate (2A3PT) was synthesized and grown by the slow evaporation solution technique (SEST) at room temperature by using millipore water as a solvent. The crystal system has been confirmed from the single crystal X- ray diffraction study. The title compoundcrystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system with non- centrosymmetric space group of P21. Dielectric properties such as dielectric constant and dielectric loss were studied as a function of temperature and frequency to find the charge distribution within the crystal. The nonlinear absorption coefficient, nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear optical susceptibility of the grown crystal were determined using Z-scan technique. The optical limiting behavior of the 2A3PT crystal is found to saturate with threshold and amplitude of 15.48 mW/cm2 and 6.45 mW/cm2 respectively.