Crystalline perfection and Mechanical properties of lithium sulphate monohydrate NLO single crystal

NLO active and optically transparent lithium sulpha te monohydrate (LSM) single crystal was grown by slow evaporation technique and subjected to High resolution X-ray analysis (HRXRD) to determine the grown crystal is quite good for device fabrication. The microhardness study was carried out to verify the mechanical strength of the grown crystal and also t o understand the mechanical behavior of LSM crystal. Vickers hardness, fracture toughness (K c), brittle index (B i), yield strength ( σv) and the elastic stiffness constant (C 11 ) were calculated. Kurtz and Perry powder technique confirmed the NLO activity of the LSM crystal.