Tuning optical properties of cadmium thiourea acetate nonlinear optical crystal exploiting organic ligand of L-proline

Abstract

Modifying optical properties of crystal is very fundamental need for designing various photonic devices, hence in the current investigation, the L-proline (LP) has been firstly doped in cadmium thiourea acetate (CTA) crystal with the aim to optimize the UV–Visible, second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency, luminescence and third-order nonlinear optical (TONLO) properties of CTA crystal. The pure and doped CTA crystals have been grown by slow solvent evaporation technique at [Formula: see text]C. The structural parameters of grown crystals have been determined using the single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. The incorporation of LP in CTA crystal matrix has been confirmed by Fourier transforms infrared analysis. The UV–Visible studies have been employed within the wavelength range of 200–900 nm to explore the enhancing impact of LP on CTA crystal. The LP doped CTA crystals were subjected to Kurtz–Perry test and Z-scan analysis to identify the nonlinear nature of studied crystals. The SHG efficiency of LP-CTA crystal shows significant increase owing to enhanced charge transfer over the organic ligand of LP. The laser-induced TONLO properties of LP-doped CTA crystal have been determined at 632.8 nm. The nature of nonlinear refraction and absorption has been explored by close and open aperture Z-scan configuration. The magnitude of nonlinear refraction [Formula: see text], absorption coefficient [Formula: see text], cubic susceptibility [Formula: see text] and figure of merit has been determined using the transmittance data. The color-centered luminescence studies have been carried out which established the prominent redshift in peak maxima of emission wavelength of CTA crystal due to doping of LP. Comparative analysis of pure and doped crystal confirmed the dominance of LP doping.