Growth of nonlinear optical material: 1-hydroxyurea hydrate crystal and its characterization

1-Hydroxyurea Hydrate an intriguing new organic material for frequency conversion has been grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique at room temperature. Their structural and physicochemical properties were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, Dielectric studies, UV-Vis spectra and Hardness studies. The crystal belongs monoclinic symmetry with the space group P21/c, a well-known noncentrosymmetric space group thus satisfying the requirements for second-order NLO activity. The material has a wide transparency in the entire visible region. It is found that the cutoff wavelength lies in the UV region. The mechanical response of the crystal has been studied using Vickers microhardness technique.