A new sodium samarium borate Na3Sm2(BO3)(3)

A new sodium samarium borate with composition Na3Sm2(BO3)(3) (NSBO) has been synthesized by high temperature solid state reaction. The yellowish transparent single crystals of Na3Sm2(BO3)(3) have been grown from the Na2CO3-H3BO3 flux system using the top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method. X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrated that the NSBO crystals belong to orthorhombic systems and lattice parameters are a = 5.0585 Angstrom, b = 11.0421 Angstrom, c = 7.0316 Angstrom. The measurement of the infrared spectrum indicated that the basic anionic groups are the BO33- groups. Furthermore, Na3Sm2(BO3)(3) exhibits an optical second harmonic generation effect which is close to that of KDP (KH2PO4). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.