Synthesis, growth, and two-photon absorption induced optical limiting action of cytosinium benzoate single crystal

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 33; no. 22; pp. 17502 - 17512
• Main Authors: Jaikumar, P., Balakrishnan, T., Ramamurthi, K., Saravanan, M., Sabari Girisun, T. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Absorptivity; Benzoates; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Constraining; Crystal growth; Diamond pyramid hardness; Energy bands; Energy gap; Etchants; Excitation; Fourier transforms; Functional groups; Infrared radiation; Lasers; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Photoluminescence; Photon absorption; Photons; Room temperature; Safety devices; Single crystals
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-022-08607-w

Two-photon absorption induced optical limiting action was demonstrated in cytosinium benzoate (CB) under nanosecond laser (532 nm, 9 ns, and 10 Hz) excitation. Intensity dependent open aperture Z-scan experiment exposed the presence of reverse saturable absorption ascribed due to sequential two-photon absorption. Initially CB single crystals were grown at room temperature by slow evaporation solution technique. Single crystal XRD shows that CB belongs to monoclinic crystal system with P2 1 /c space group. Fourier Transform Infrared spectrum was recorded to identify the presence of functional groups. Thermal studies shows that the crystal is stable upto 168 °C. Vickers microhardness studies confirm that the grown crystal was belongs to soft material category. Etching study shows linear rectangular etch patterns (5 s) and well defined stacking planes (10 s) for water etchant. Optical studies demonstrate that CB crystal possess lower cut-off (287 nm) and moderate linear transmittance in visible region. The optical energy band gap of CB crystal was estimated from photoluminescence studies as 3.1 eV. CB with higher two-photon absorption coefficient (1.26 × 10 –10  m/W) and lower onset limiting threshold (1.92 × 10 12  W/m 2 ) can be a potential candidate for developing laser safety devices under nanosecond green laser excitation regime.