IJSRSET184433 | Received : 01 March | Accepted : 12 March 2018 | March-April-2018 [(4) 4 : 171-177 ] © 2018 IJSRSET | Volume 4 | Issue 4 | Print ISSN: 2395-1990 | Online ISSN : 2394-4099 Themed Section : Engineering and Technology 171 Photoluminescence, Photoconductivity, Thermal, Microhardness and Dielectric Properties of Silver Nitrate Doped Potassium Zinc Phosphate Hexahydrate Single Crystal R. Azhagu Raj *1 , Ambrose Rajkumar Mariadass 2 , D. Krishnamoorthy 3 , A. Prakasam 3 , Prem Anand Devarajan* 2 1 Department of Zoology, St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Physics, St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu, India. 3 Department of Physics, Thiruvalluvar Govt. Arts College, Rasipuram, Tamil Nadu, India ABSTRACT Silver nitrate doped potassium zinc phosphate hexahydrate NLO single crystal was grown using conventional solution growth technique. The as grown single crystal was subjected to single crystal X-ray diffraction and it was revealed that crystal belongs to monoclinic system. Photoluminescence spectra was observed at 415 nm and 545 nm due to the π* - n and π- π* transitions. Photoconductivity was measured to understand the internal processes in crystals. The negative conductivity of the as grown crystal may be due to the reduction in number of charge carries in the presences of radiation. Thermal properties of silver nitrate doped potassium zinc phosphate hexahydrate were studied and it was found that the melting point of as grown is 123 0 C. Microhardness of silver nitrate doped potassium zinc phosphate hexahydrate was also studied and concluded that it belongs to soft material. Electrical property of as grown crystal was also carried out. Keywords : Potassium zinc phosphate hexahydrate, Photoluminescence, Dielectric, monoclinic and microhardness I. INTRODUCTION New materials exhibiting non linear optical (NLO) effects have been explored with view to develop opto- electrical devices for example optical modulator and frequency doubling devices [1]. Hence the search for efficient non linear optical (NLO) crystals is in fact that search for the polar crystals in which the macroscopic properties reflect the internal asymmetric molecular relationship. Such a crystal may have an external morphology with hemi hedral faces that have different chemical reactivity and physical properties, such as third order NLO activity in addition to pyro electric, pizzo electric and ferro electric effects [2]-[3]. The unique property of perfect single crystals was employed in the development of device fabrications in semiconductors, optics, photonics, nonlinear optics, light-emitting diodes, faster processors, high- resolution detectors, ferroelectric and piezoelectric applications[4-6]. The numerous applications of the nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals in the vast field of science and technology made the process of search of the new NLO crystals and improvements in the properties of the known crystals a never stopping process. Purely inorganic NLO materials typically have excellent mechanical and thermal properties but often posses relatively modest optical nonlinearities due to their lack of extended π- electrons delocalization. Furthermore inorganic crystals grown from high temperature melts typically have lower damage thresholds and more optical inhomogeneties throughout their bulk due to