Effect of low and high concentrations of KCl dopant on ADP crystal properties

The experimental results of the influence of low (1 M%) and high (10 M%) concentrations of potassium chloride (KCl) dopant on ADP crystals are presented. The dopant results in an increase in the metastable zone width leading to an enhanced crystal growth rate, at its low concentrations. In the presence of high concentrations of the dopant in the medium, the growth rate decreases appreciably. Further, low concentrations of dopant improve the crystalline quality with better transparency. The diffraction patterns reveal that there is no change in basic structure except for variation in intensity by doping. Slight broadening is observed in FTIR of ADP in the 3500–3000 cm⁻¹ range in the presence of high [KCl]. It appears that the dopant has not altered much the optical transparency of the crystal. SEM studies of pure and doped samples reveal that structure defect centers are formed in ADP crystals by the dopant. Second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency measurements indicate that nonlinear optical (NLO) property is enhanced appreciably by [KCl] dopant and the SHG is more pronounced at high concentrations. It seems that the molecular alignment of the crystal facilitates non-linearity in the presence of the dopant.