Crystal structure, growth and characterizations of a novel organic third-order nonlinear optical crystal: guanidinium cinnamate

Guanidinium cinnamate (GUCN), a single crystal, was grown by slow evaporation technique. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction study revealed that GUCN crystal belongs to monoclinic crystal system with the space group P2(1)/c. Thermal studies revealed that the GUCN is thermally stable up to 238 degrees C. The optical transmittance studies were carried out for the crystal, and the lower cutoff wavelength of the grown crystal was observed at 322 nm. The luminescent study showed that the GUCN crystal has high degree of luminescence. Third-order nonlinear refractive index n(2), nonlinear absorption coefficient beta and susceptibility chi((3)) parameters were estimated by Z-scan technique. The four independent tensor coefficients epsilon(11), epsilon(22), epsilon(33) and epsilon(13) of dielectric permittivities for monoclinic GUCN were calculated. The mechanical properties of the grown crystals were studied using Vickers micro-hardness tester at different planes.