Growth and characterization of unidirectional ⟨1 0 0⟩ KDP single crystal by Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy (SR) method

Unidirectional (100) potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate (KDP) single crystals were grown by Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy (SR) method. The < 100 > oriented seed crystals were mounted at the bottom of the glass ampoules and the crystals of 20 mm diameter, 30 mm height and 15 mm diameter 65 mm, height were grown by SR method. The grown crystals were characterized by high-resolution X-ray diffractometry anlaysis, UV-vis spectroscopy, dielectric and microhardness studies. The high-resolution X-ray diffractometry anlaysis indicates that the crystalline perfection is excellent without having any very low angle internal structural grain boundaries. The SR method-grown unidirectional KDP has 15% higher transmittance compared to conventional method-grown crystals. The dielectric constant was higher and the dielectric loss was less in SR method-grown crystal. The crystals grown by SR method have much higher hardness value than conventional method-grown crystals. The quality of the crystal grown by SR method is better than conventional method-grown crystal. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.