A novel growth method for organic nonlinear optical crystals

A novel crystal growth method called seed-orientated undercooled melt growth is proposed for growth of organic nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals. The main advantage of this method is that organic NLO crystals can be grown along a given direction and the optional crystal faces (h k l) may be grown directly in a crystallizer. The grown crystals with determinate crystal faces are possible to apply as nonlinear optical devices regardless of subsequent cutting and polishing. Using this method, the different crystal faces of benzophenone crystals were successfully grown in a quartz crystallizer, and the orientation of the grown crystal faces were measured by an X-ray angular instrument. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.