Synthesis, crystal growth and characterisation of a new nonlinear optical material - urea L-malic acid

Urea L-malic acid, a new second order nonlinear optical crystal, has bren s ynthesized and its sructure determined by X-ray single crystal diffraction. It is biaxial, space group P2(1), with the structure consisting of urea an d L-malic acid molecules held together by a network of hydrogen bonds. The crystals are non hygroscopic and display a transmission of >70% from 380 to 1440 nm. Preliminary measurements indicate that the second harmonic genera tion efficiency at a fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm is roughly three tim es greater than that of KDP. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.