Studies on mechanical and electrical properties of NLO active L-glycine single crystal

L-glycine single crystals were grown by slow evaporation technique. The crystals are subjected to microhardness studies and the variation of the microhardness with the applied load is studied. Microhardness studies revealed that the hardness of the grown crystal increases with an increase in load. Meyer’s index number n was calculated and found that the material belongs to soft material category. The dielectric measurements are carried out and the nature of variation of dielectric constant and dielectric loss in the frequency range of 50 Hz to 5 MHz at different temperatures (30 ºC, 60 ºC, 90 ºC, 120 ºC, and 150 ºC) is studied and reported. Further, electronic properties, such as valence electron plasma energy, Penn gap, Fermi energy and electronic polarizability of the grown crystal have been estimated. Photoconductivity measurements carried out on the grown crystal reveal the negative photoconducting nature.