Exploring the potential of l-glutamic acid hydrochloride: growth, characterization, and applications in organic nonlinear optical single crystals for optoelectronic and photonic devices

Semi-organic single l-glutamic acid hydrochloride (LGHCl) single crystals, a nonlinear optical material were grown via the slow solvent evaporation method. The formation of LGHCl crystals was confirmed through the application of Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and FT-IR analysis. The optical quality and bandgap value of the crystal were examined. The second harmonic generation (SHG) conversion efficiency of LGHCl was precisely determined from the implementation of Kurtz–Perry powder technique. The laser damage threshold (LDT) and microhardness properties of LGHCl single crystals were evaluated. LGHCl single crystal's photoconductive sensitivity and temperature-dependent (313–343 K) dielectric behavior were studied. Vickers microhardness analysis was employed to assess the microhardness of generate LGHCl single crystal at room temperature. Using DFT/B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) theory the optimized geometry, First- and second-order hyperpolarizability and NBO investigations were simulated. Furthermore, density of states (both partial and total) of LGHCl were also determined. The obtained results indicate that the molecule is thermodynamically and optically stable, with a hyperpolarizability that is comparable to other molecules in its class.