Journal of Minerals & Materials Characterization & Engineering, Vol. 10, No.13, pp.1225-1231, 201 1
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1225
Optical Conductivity and Dielectr ic Response of an Organic
Aminopyridine NLO Single C rystal
T. Arumanayagam, P. Murugakoothan*
PG and Research Department of Physics, Pachiyappa’s College, Chennai, India.
*Corresponding author: [e-mail]
Abstract
This paper explores the correlation of electro-optical properties with dielectric properties of
an organic single crystal. The optical constants of the organic aminopyridine single crystal
have been studied. The second harmonic generation efficiency of the grown crystal, based
on powder measurement, is 2.9 times higher than that of KDP. The real and imaginary part
of the complex refractive index and dielectric constant of the crystal were determined. The
optical and electrical conductivity of the grown crystal were studied.
Keywords: Nonlinear optical materials, Optical conductivity, Dielectric Properties,
1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, researchers devoted much attention to nonlinear photonic crystals as their
use in photonic band gap materials for controlling and molding the flow of light. The growth
of research in nonlinear optics (NLO) is closely linked to the rapid technological advances
that have occurred in related fields such as ultra-fast phenomena, optical communication and
optical storage devices [1]. Organic nonlinear optical crystals which possess a good second
harmonic generation efficiency due to their high optical band gap and low dielectric constant
are in rich demand in optical storage devices, colour display units and optical
communication systems etc [2]. It has been already reported that the pyridinium acceptor
shows large second harmonic nonlinearity [3]. Recently optical properties of aminopyridine
complexes and its suitability for the optoelectronic devices fabrications were reported [4, 5].
In the present work, we have made an analysis of electro-optical properties correlated with
dielectric properties of 2-aminopyridine 4-aminobenzoate single crystal.
2. EXPERIMENTS
The high optical quality 2-aminopyridine 4-aminobenzoate (APAB) single crystal was
grown by slow evaporation technique. The compound was prepared by the reaction of

1226 T. Arumanayagam, P. Murugakoot han Vol.10, No.13
2-aminopyridine (20 milli mol) and 4-aminobenzoic acid (10 milli mol) in (1:1) water
methanol. The solution w as h e ated with reflux about the temperature of 50 ˚C for 3 hours. A
good optical quality single crystal of APAB was harvested after a period of 20 days and is
shown in Figure 1(a ). The unit cell dimension of APAB crystal was identified by single
crystal X-ray diffraction analysis using Enraf Nonius FR 590 diffractometer with Mo Kα
(λ=0.7170 Å) radiation. The cut and polished 2 mm thickness crystal was subjected for
transmittance studies by using Model 1601 spectro-photometer. The second harmonic
generati o n (SHG) efficienc y of APAB was m easured by Kurtz and Perr y powder technique.
The same thickness samples were used for the analysis of dielectric measurements for
various frequencies and temperature using a HIOKI 3532-50 LCR HITESTER.
Fig. 1(a). Photograph of as grown single crystal.
(b). UV-Vis-NIR transmittance spectra of APAB crystal.
3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The grown crystals were subjected to single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The crystal
belongs to the triclinic crystallographic system. The obtained latt ice paramet er values a re in
good agreement with the reported literature values [6].
3.1. Linear and Nonlinear Optical Studies
Optical transm itt ance ran ge an d tr anspar enc y cut off wav elen gth of the c r ystal are i mport ant
factors for optical applications. Figure 1(b) which shows that there is no transmission up to
367 nm and it reveals that the crystal absorbs the entire UV region and transmit the visible
and NIR region. The optical band gap energy of the grown cr ystal was calculated using the

Vol.10, No.11 Optical Conductivity and Dielectric 1227
formula Eg = 1240/ λ (nm) in eV, where λ is the lower cut off wavelength (367 nm). The
band gap of the APAB crystal is found to be 3.37 eV. As this crystal exhibits wide
transmission range, starting from 367 nm onwards, it can be used for optical applications
including the second harmonic generation of Nd: YAG laser of fundamental wavelength
λ=1064 nm. It is also interesting to note from the spectrum that this crystal absorbs UV
radiati on and henc e APAB cr ystal can be used as an effect ive UV sh elter [ 7]. The measured
transmittance (T) data was used to calculate the absorption coefficient (α) from the
following relation,
α = (1)
where t is the thickness of the crystal. The dependence of absorption coefficient on photon
energy was analyzed in the absorption regions to obtain the detailed information about the
energ y band gap of the c rystal. Fi gure 2(a) shows the variation of absorption coefficient (α)
as a function of photon energy at room temperature. From the graph it is evident that the
absorption coefficient varies from 6.5-16.4 cm-1 with increasing photon energy of
3.2-3.5 eV. The optical constants such as the refractive index (n) and the extinction
coeffi cien t (k ) have al so been es ti m ated us in g the for mu la as repo rted ea rli er [ 8]. Figure 2 (b)
shows the plot of refractive index as a function of wavelength and it could be noticed that
the refractive index decreases abruptly as the wavelength increases and gets saturated
beyond the wavelength of 450 nm. The refractive index of grown APAB crystal for longer
wavelen gth ( vi si ble re gio n ) was cal cul at ed t o be 2.36. From th e calcu lat ed values o f n and k,
the real and imaginary functions of dielect rics wer e also det ermined . The complex dielectric
constant (ε = εr+εi) char a ct eri z es t he o pt ical pro pe rt ies of t he crystals an d is calculated using
the expressions as report ed earl ier [9]. The real and i m aginary parts of t he di el ectri c con st ant
of the grown crystal were determined and shown in Figure 3(a). From the graph it is clear
that both real and imaginary part of dielectric constant increases with increase of photon
energy. The real part of the dielectric constant increases linearly with higher value than the
imaginary part. The lower value of dielectric constant with wide band gap of APAB crystal
suggests the suitability of optoelectronic devices.
The optical conductivity is one of the powerful tools for studying the electronic states in
materials. The frequency dependence of dielectric reflects the fact that a material’s
polarization does not respond instantaneously to an applied field. For this reason, dielectric
constant is often treated as complex function of the frequenc y of the applied field. A perfect
dielect ric is a material that has no conductivit y. However the grown crystals associated with
low dielectric loss inhibit the propagation of electromagnetic energy which aided
conductivity. According to the one component or anomalous Drude model, both the carrier
relax at ion time and its effective mass of the charges are assumed to be as the functions of
photon frequency (ω). But for alternative, multi component model, the real part of the
optical conductivity (σ) of the crystal was calculated using the following relations [10, 11]:
σ = Im (ε) (2)

1228 T. Arumanayagam, P. Murugakoot han Vol.10, No.13
where the value of Im (ε) is given by,
Im (ε) = . (3)
where μr is the relative permeability. For most crystalline materials μr is very close to 1 at
optical frequencies. On substuting the value of Im (ε) in Eq. (2)
σ = (4)
where c is the velocity of light. The plot between the optical conductivity against photon
energy (hν) was depicted in Figure 3(b). The spectrum indicates that the optical conductance
increases with the increase of photon energy.
Fig. 2(a). Plot of absorption coefficient against photon energy.
(b). Plot of refractive index against wavelength for APAB crystal.
For the second ha rmonic generation efficiency, a fundamental beam of wavelength 1064 nm
with a pulse duration of 10 ns and frequenc y repetition of 10 Hz from Q-switched Nd:YAG
laser was used as the source and passed through the powder sample [12]. The SHG behavior
was confirmed from the output of the laser beam which had bright green emission
(λ=532 nm) from the powder sample. The second harmonic signal of 32 mV was obtained
for an input energy of 31 mJ/pulse, while the standard KDP crystal gives a SHG signal of 11
mV for the same input energy. It shows that the SHG efficiency of APAB is 2.9 times that
of standard NLO material, KDP.
2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0
4
8
12
16
400600800 1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
(a)
α
(cm
-1
)
hν (eV)
(b)
Refractive index, n
wavelength (nm )

Vol.10, No.11 Optical Conductivity and Dielectric 1229
Fig. 3(a). Plot of εr and εi as a function of photon energy of APAB crystal.
3(b). Optical conductivity against photon energy of APAB crystal
3.2. Dielectric Studies
The dielectric properties are correlated with electro-optic properties of the crystals [13].
The dielectric constant (εr) was calculated by using the relation, εr = Ct/Aε0, where ε0 is
the permittivity of the free space, C is the capacitance and A is the area of cross section of
the sample. Figure 4(a) and 4(b) shows the plot between the calculated dielectric constant
and dielectric loss with respect to frequency for APAB crystal, respectively. The graph
reveals that the dielectric constant has higher value at lower frequencies and almost
constant at higher frequencies (beyond 100 kHz), calculated to be 32.5. The magnitude of
dielectric constant depends on degree of polarization and the charge displacement in
crystal. The decrease in dielectric constants at higher frequencies is attributed to the
absence of space charge polarization near the grain boundary interface [14, 15]. For a
material to be a potential candidate for NLO applications, dielectric loss (tan δ) must also
be kept as low as possible. From the graph, it is clear that the APAB crystal exhibit very
low dielectric loss at high frequencies and can be used for NLO applications effectively
[16].
The crystal was subjected to an external electric field. Then, generally, a redistribution of
charges occurs and currents are induced. The ac conductivit y of the samples was calculated
using the formula [17];
σac
= ε
0εr
ωtanδ
(5)
where ω be the angular frequency (ω = 2πν). Figure 5, shows the variations of ac
conductivity of APAB crystal with various frequencies. The conductivity is almost zero up
0.000
0.002
0.004
0.006
0.008
2.2 2.42.6 2.8 3.0 3.2
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6
0
5
10
15
20
25
Im aginary dielectric function,
ε
i
Real dielectric functio n,
ε
r
(a)
ε
i
ε
r
Photon energy (eV )
(b)
Optical condu ctivity (x10
8
Ω
−1
m
-1
)
hν (eV)

1230 T. Arumanayagam, P. Murugakoot han Vol.10, No.13
to 10 kHz and then increases with the increase of frequency. The low value of electrical
conductivity is the effect of decrease in mobility of the charge carriers due to ionic size,
which leads to the change in electronic band structure. At higher frequency the ac
conductivity increases sharply. It reveals that the electrical conductivity is proportional to
mobility and carrier concentrations through the well known relation σ = ndeμe, where μe is
the mobility of electron and nd is the number density of electron. Thus the optical
conductivity of the grown APAB crystal increases by increased with increase in applied
energy.
Fig. 4(a). Variation of dielectric constant with frequency.
(b). Variation of dielectric loss with frequency.
1234567
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
1234567
0. 0
0. 5
1. 0
1. 5
2. 0
2. 5
(a)
35
o
C
100
o
C
Dielectric constant
log f
( b)
Dielectric loss
log f
1 2 3 4 5 6
0
15
30
45
60
75 35
oC
100 oC
Electrical conductivity (x10
-6
Ω
−1
m
-1
)
log f

Vol.10, No.11 Optical Conductivity and Dielectric 1231
Fig. 5. Plot of electrical conductivity versus frequency of APAB crystal.

1232 T. Arumanayagam, P. Murugakoot han Vol.10, No.13
3. CONCLUSION
Under the reaction of 2-aminopyridine and 4-aminobenzoic acid with the ratio 2:1, high
quality nonlinear optical crystal was grown using slow evaporation technique. The optical
transmittance, band gap and optical constants of the grown crystal were studied. The
complex dielectric functions of the APAB crystal were studied. The SHG efficienc y of the
grown APAB crystal is 2.9 times that of KDP. The optical and electr ical conductivi t y of the
sample was studied and it reveals that the conductivity increases with increase of photon
energy. The dielectric constant of the grown crystal is calculated to be 32.5 at higher
frequen cy. The high optical transmittance and band gap with low dielectric constant and
low dielectric loss suggest that the APAB crystal could be used in nonlinear optoelectronic
devices.
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