SbI3·3S8: A Novel Promising Inorganic Adducts Crystal for Second Harmonic Generation

Abstract

In the past twenty years, the basic investigation of innovative Non-Linear Optical (NLO) crystals has received significant attention, which has built the crucial heritage for the use of NLO materials. Fundamental research is essential given the scarcity of materials for NLO compounds, especially in the deep ultraviolet (DUV) and middle- and far-infrared (MFIR) regions. In the present work, we synthesized high-quality MFIR SbI3·3S8 NLO crystals having a length in the range of 1–5 mm through rapid facile liquid phase ultrasonic reaction followed by the assistance of instantaneous natural evaporation phenomenon of the solvent at room temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results ratify the hexagonal R3m structure of SbI3·3S8 crystal, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) demonstrates that the elemental composition of SbI3·3S8 crystal is similar to that of its theoretical composition. The direct and indirect forbidden energy gaps of SbI3·3S8 were measured from the optical transmittance spectra and they were shown to be 2.893 eV and 1.986 eV, respectively. The green sparkling signal has been observed from the crystal during the second harmonic generation (SHG) experiment. Therefore, as inorganic adducts are often explored as NLO crystals, this work on the MFIR SbI3·3S8 NLO crystal can bring about additional investigations on this hot topic in the near future.