Effect of gamma irradiation on the mechanical and electrical properties of the MMTC single crystal

The non linear optical single crystals of Manganese Mercury Thiyocynate (MMTC) were grown by Sankaranarayanan–Ramasamy (SR) method. The grown crystals were exposed to c-60 gamma radiation of doses 10 kGy and 20 kGy separately. The Vickers and Knoop microhardness studies have been carried out on pure and irradiated crystals over a load range of 10-100 g. The Vickers hardness number and the Knoop microhardness number (Hk) were found to increase with the increase in load. The Meyer’s index number ‘n’ was calculated from Hv. The photo conductivity study proves that MMTC crystal exhibits negative photoconductivity.