Growth and optical properties of large single crystals of rhodamine from methanol solution

We report for the first time the existence of large-size (more than 1 mm in length) rhodamine (RH6G) crystals. The newly discovered structure of such crystals obtained with X-ray diffractometry is presented. The crystal is birefringent and can be imaged non-destructively using X-ray, electron and ion beam techniques. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.