Growth, structural, thermal, dielectric and optical studies on HBST crystal: A potential THz emitter

Abstract The efficient organic nonlinear optical material 4-hydroxy benzaldehyde- N -methyl 4-stilbazolium tosylate (HBST) was grown from methanol by slope nucleation method combined with slow cooling (SNM-SC) for the first time. The optimum growth conditions based on the cooling rate was further investigated. The single crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that the chromophores of HBST crystal make an angle of about 33° with respect to the a-axis, which is close to the optimum of Terahertz (THz)-wave generation and electro-optics applications. NMR and FT-IR spectral studies have been performed to ascertain various functional groups present in the sample. Futhermore, the thermal stability and decomposition stages were analyzed through TG-DTA and DSC techniques. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of HBST crystal have been studied. Critical optical properties like the absorption coefficient, refractive index, cut-off wavelength and band gap energy were calculated. Photoluminescence (PL) exication studies indicated green emission occured at 507 nm. All the results of HBST crystal make it a promising candidate in the fields of optoelectronic and the generation of THz.