Unique optical properties of Eu doped l-histidine hydrochloride mono hydrate single crystals from low temperature growth technique.

A low-temperature solution method was utilized to grow single crystals of Eudoped l-histidine hydrochloride monohydrate. The quality of the crystals was confirmed by high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of rocking curve at 8arc per sec. The incorporation of Eu ions into the lattice was confirmed by functional group analysis using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The amount of Eu ions was found to be 0.08 weight (%) using energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The crystal's thermal and mechanical properties were tested as well. The unique spectral properties such as UV-Vis transmittance, nonlinear optical efficiency (NLO), photoluminescence (PL) and its lifetime were measured. The PL study revealed that the intensity of D→F emission of Eu is stronger than that of D→F emission and the decay measurement showed a life time of 7.2410μs. The photoluminescence results prove that l-histidine hydrochloride monohydrate is a new, highly efficient host material for europium ion red emissions.