Effect of silver nitrate (AgNO3) on the growth, optical, spectral, thermal and mechanical properties of γ-glycine single crystal

Single crystal of AgNO3 doped γ-glycine, a nonlinear optical (NLO) material have been grown by slow evaporation method. The phase purity and crystal structure of the grown crystals have been confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction studies. Thermal analysis was carried out to study the effect of AgNO3 doping on thermal stability of γ-glycine crystal. Functional groups of the grown crystal were identified through FTIR and FT-Raman spectroscopy. The optical transparency and lower cut off value of UV transmission were ascertained by recorded UVVisible spectrum of γ-glycine crystals. The existence of second harmonic generation (SHG) of the grown crystal was confirmed by Kurtz-powder technique and the efficiency of frequency doubling was found to be 1.4 times than that of KDP. Mechanical property of the grown AgNO3 doped γ-glycine crystal was studied by Vickers microhardness tester.