Growth, characterization and SHG studies of Cu (II) doped manganese sulfate monohydrate crystals

Copper incorporated manganese sulfate single crystals have been grown by a conventional slow evaporation solution technique using water as solvent. The crystal size improves noticeably with increasing Cu (II) sulfate with decrease in optical transparency. The atomic absorption spectroscopy of grown crystals conform the presence of copper and increase in its concentration after successive increase after incorporation. The phase identification exercised for all grown crystals using single crystal x-ray diffraction shows the crystallization in orthorhombic phase with almost same lattice parameters. The study of optical transmission of grown crystals carried out using UV–visible spectrophotometer shows anomalous behavior above 400. However, the transmission behavior was almost stable for 10 mol% copper (II) sulfate incorporated manganese sulfate ranging between 30 and 40% compared to other two crystals. The presence of functional groups and variations in peak position especially of O–H and sulfonate stretching was determined using FT-IR spectroscopy. The amount of water released and increase in decomposition temperature as a function Cu (II) sulfate incorporation was conformed using TGA/DSC respectively. The microhardness test of grown crystals using Vickers diamond pyramid indenter shows improved hardness as a function of Cu (II) sulfate incorporation. The second harmonic generation study shows decrease in relative conversion efficiency with increase in Cu (II) sulfate incorporation in crystals.