Growth, structural, optical, thermal, dielectric and second harmonic generation properties of 2-methylimidazolium malonate (2MIM) nonlinear optical single crystals

New organic 2-methylimidazolium malonate (2MIM) single crystals for nonlinear optical application have been grown using the slow evaporation solution technique (SEST) method and the basic properties 2MIM single crystals were discussed for the first time in the literature. The structural confirmation of 2MIM was carried out using the single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The 2MIM molecule crystallized in orthorhombic crystal structure with a space group Pna2₁ in non-centrosymmetric pattern. FT-IR and FT-Raman vibrational spectral studies were carried out to find the functional groups of 2MIM compound. UV–Vis–NIR transmittance spectral result indicates that the 223 nm scale of cut-off edge with wide band gap was observed in the linear optical properties. To find the second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency of the 2MIM material, the Kurtz and Perry powder technique was used and the powdered sample was achieved resulting from good quality single crystals. To examine the electrical properties of the crystal the dielectric measurement was carried out. The NLO device applications of 2MIM crystal were confirmed by all the characterization results.