Author(s)

P. Nisha Santha Kumari, S. Kalainathan

Department of Physics, Auxilium College, Vellore-632006, India.
School of Science and Humanities, VIT University, Vellore-632014, India..

Growth of magnesium doped cadmium mercury thiocyanate single crystals from silica gel by the process of diffusion and a comparative study with pure cadmium mercury thiocyanate are discussed. The X-ray diffraction studies reveal the crystal lattice of the doped crystal to be tetragonal showing that the incorporation of the metallic dopant has not altered the structure of the parent crystal. Investigation on the crystalline perfection of the grown crystal by high resolution X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the quality of the doped crystal to be extremely good. Fourier transform infrared and transmission spectra were also recorded for the grown crystals. The thermal stabilities of the crystals were investigated by thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses. Vickers microhardness studies reveal that the presence of dopant has changed the nature of the crystal from soft to hard material category. The second harmonic generation efficiencies of the crystals were measured with respect to urea.

Crystal growth; Diffusion; X-ray diffraction; Mechanical properties.

P. Kumari and S. Kalainathan, "Comparative Study of Pure and Magnesium Doped Cadmium Mercury Thiocyanate Single Crystals – Gel Technique," Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, Vol. 7 No. 4, 2008, pp. 317-330. doi: 10.4236/jmmce.2008.74025.