Growth and photorefractive properties of near-stoichiometric In:Fe:Cu:LiNbO3 crystals

The near-stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystal co-doped with In₂O₃, Fe₂O₃, and CuO has been grown from a Li-rich melt (Li/Nb = 1.38, atomic ratio) by the Czochralski method in air atmosphere for the first time. The OH⁻ absorption spectra were characterized to investigate the structure defects of the crystals. The appearance of the 3506 cm⁻¹ absorption peak manifests that the composition of the grown crystal is close to the stoichiometric ratio. The photorefractive properties were also measured by the two-wave coupling experiments. The results show that the near-stoichiometric In:Fe:Cu:LiNbO₃ crystal has a larger refractive index change, higher recording sensitivity and larger two-wave coupling gain coefficient than those obtained in the congruent In:Fe:Cu:LiNbO₃ crystal under the same experimental conditions. The material of near-stoichiometric In:Fe:Cu:LiNbO₃ crystal is a promising candidate for blue photorefractive holographic recording.     

Ce:KNSBN晶体中超短激光脉冲二波耦合和四波混频相位共轭

脉宽为50～60ps的超短激光脉冲列在Ce:KNSBN晶体中实现二波耦合和四波混频相位共轭。环境的微振动使二波耦合和四波混频相位共轭信号变得不稳定。当泵浦光脉冲从相对于探测光脉冲早到变为迟到时,二波耦合探测光信号从缩小变到放大。四波混频相位共轭信号出现双脉冲。晶体中存在纳秒光折变效应。     

BSO晶体中光折变增益与入射面情况的依赖关系

用两波混频方法在514.5nm(氩离子激光器)对BSO晶体中光折变增益与入射面情况的依赖关系进行了研究,由于BSO晶体围绕<110>轴旋转时受主能级状态的影响,从而光折变增益将取决于衍射效率的改变。     

Effect of proton exchange and annealing on diffraction efficiency of Fe:LiNbO3 crystals

Influence of proton exchange and annealing on the photorefractive properties of Fe:LiNbO₃ crystals has been investigated using two-wave coupling phenomena. The two-wave coupling phenomena results in microscopic interference pattern inside the sample which subsequently helps in the formation of refractive index grating. The diffraction efficiency of the crystal increases after proton exchange, whereas the reverse is observed on annealed samples. The former is attributed to an increase of extraordinary refractive index of the crystal, while the latter to the oxidization of Fe²⁺ to Fe³⁺.     

Coupling modulation in photorefractive materials by applying AC electric fields

In general, the application of an electric field to a photorefractive material with optical activity results in a change in the effective electro-optic coefficient, r_eff, which, in turn, alters the coupling between the two beams in a two-wave mixing experiment. When an alternating field is applied, this results in a modulation of both the phase and the coupling of the beams. Equations that have been developed to describe the change in the electro-optic coefficient as function of an applied dc field across an optically active crystal, have been used to demonstrate coupling modulation effects in BSO whilst applying large sinusoidal fields. Methods of overcoming these modulation effects are included.     

Photorefractive and optical scattering properties of Zr:Fe:LiNbO3 crystals

The LiNbO₃ crystal co-doped with ZrO₄ and Fe₂O₃ has been grown with [Li]/[Nb]=0.85 and 1.20, respectively, by the Czochralski method in air atmosphere. The incident exposure energy flux threshold for the light-induced scattering was characterized to investigate the scattering properties of the crystals. Applying the results of the incident exposure energy flux threshold effect, the photorefractive properties at different laser wavelengths (473 nm and 532 nm) were also measured by using the typical two-wave coupling experiments. The results show that Zr:Fe:LiNbO₃ crystal has a larger refractive index change, higher recording sensitivity and larger two-wave coupling gain coefficient at 473 nm wavelength than those obtained at 532 nm wavelength under the same experimental conditions. Moreover, the photorefractive properties decrease with the increasing [Li]/[Nb] ratios. The material of Zr:Fe:LiNbO₃ crystal is a promising candidate for blue photorefractive holographic recording.     

Oscillation dependence of two-wave mixing gain for unidirectional ring resonator in photorefractive materials

Dependence of the coupling strength of two-wave mixing gain in photorefractive materials for the single unidirectional ring resonator on oscillation conditions has been analyzed in the strong nonlinear regime. In this regime, difference between the frequency of the pump beam and oscillating beam is proportional to the cavity-length detuning, which can be explained in terms of the photorefractive phase-shift. This phase-shift results due to slightly non-degenerate two-wave mixing that compensates for cavity detuning and satisfies the round-trip phase condition for the steady-state oscillation. The presence of such a phase-shift allows the possibility of the nonreciprocal steady-state energy transfer between the pump and oscillating beams. If the gain due to the beam coupling is large enough to overcome the cavity losses then the signal beam is amplified in the presence of material absorption. Such amplification is responsible for the oscillations. For the single unidirectional ring resonator, the effects of cavity-length detuning, energy coupling coefficient, crystal thickness of the material, reflectivity of the cavity mirrors and material's absorption coefficient on the frequency and intensity of oscillations have also been studied in detail. It has been found that for the smaller value of absorption coefficient (α) of the photorefractive crystal, the unidirectional ring resonator can oscillate at almost any cavity-length detuning (ΔΓ) whereas for the larger value of α oscillation occurs only when the cavity-length detuning is limited to small region (around ΔΓ=0). But reverse of the case is found for energy coupling coefficient (γ₀).     

Enhancement of blue holographic properties in Zr4+-doped near stoichiometric Fe:LiNbO3 crystals

The near stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystals co-doped with ZrO₂ and Fe₂O₃ have been grown from a Li-rich melt (Li/Nb=1.38, atomic ratio) by the Czochralski method in air atmosphere at the first time. The OH^? absorption and UV–vis absorption spectra were characterized to investigate the defect structure of the crystals. The appearances of the 3479 cm^?1 absorption peak and 358 nm absorption edge manifest that the composition of the grown crystal is close to the stoichiometric ratio. The blue holographic properties were also measured by the two-wave coupling experiments. As a result, in the near stoichiometric Zr:Fe:LiNbO₃ crystals, photorefractive response speed, recording sensitivity, and two-wave coupling gain coefficient are significantly enhanced. Meanwhile, the high saturation diffraction efficiency is still maintained. These findings prove that the material of near stoichiometric Zr:Fe:LiNbO₃ crystals are a promising candidate for blue photorefractive holographic recording.     

Beam coupling and decoupling in degenerate two-wave mixing in a reflection geometry with photorefractive Bi2GeO20 crystals

The dependence of the effective gain on the incident angle of the beams and on the initial beam intensity ratio is studied in the experiment of degenerate two-wave mixing (TWM) in a reflection geometry with photorefractive Bi₁₂GeO₂₀ (BGO) crystals. A saturation value of the effective coupling constant ¦g¦-0.4 cm^–1 is obtained. In contrast to TWM operated in the drift mode (i.e. with a nonzero electric field applied to the crystal), for TWM operated in the diffusion mode (zero external electric field) as is our case, beam coupling is reduced by moving the crystal or the interference fringes at a constant speed. At high moving speeds, complete beam decoupling can be reached. A comparison between the theoretical and measured dependence of the effective gain on the moving speed is also made. Using this technique, complete isolation of two intersecting coherent beams inside a nonlinear medium can be achieved.     

Improvement of the dynamic range of a fiber specklegram sensor based on volume speckle recording in photorefractive materials

In this work, the improvement of the dynamic range of a micro displacement sensor based on fiber specklegrams holographically stored in a photorefractive BSO (Bi₁₂SiO₂₀) crystal is reported. In our experimental setup, a plastic optical fiber (POF) was used to generate a subjective speckle pattern that was recorded in the crystal using a two-wave mixing arrangement. The speckle size was controlled by modifying the diameter of a pupil aperture adjacent to a lens producing the image of the speckle. Fringe patterns were obtained at the output of the system by producing micro displacements of the fiber output end. An increase in the visibility of the fringe patterns was appreciated when the pupil aperture diameter decreased even without controlling the average modulation of the intensity of the light pattern, i.e. when the speckle length increased and the average light modulation simultaneously decreased. This behavior allowed recovering the autocorrelation functions of fringe patterns associated with displacements that initially led to decorrelation, and therefore, significantly to improve the dynamic range of the metrological system. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report about the influence of speckle size on the dynamic range of fiber specklegrams sensors recorded on photorefractive materials.     

向列相液晶中弱光引致各向异性衍射图样的研究

研究了弱线偏振光(≈0.16 W/cm²)通过垂直排列C₆₀掺杂的向列相液晶(5CB)薄膜的远场衍射图样.基于取向光折变机理,二波耦合使液晶分子进行二次取向之后,强度为高斯分布的光束通过样品时将形成高斯分布的空间电荷场,偏振光束通过样品时将产生偏振衍射图样.衍射图样的轮廓是同心圆环,在垂直于光的偏振方向有对称缺口.改变入射光的偏振方向可以看到衍射图样也随之改变, 有效非线性折射率系数n₂≈0.3cm²/W 关键词： 向列相液晶 取向光折变效应 自相位调制 衍射图样     

Recovery of Laser-Diode Coherence Length by a Photorefractive Double Phase-Conjugate Mirror

We report an experimental study of dynamic coupling of two laser diodes (LD’s) with a double phase-conjugate mirror (DPCM) in a Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ fiber-like crystal. After the DPCM is recorded in the crystal, one of the LD’s is switched to the multimode regime, while the other remains lasing in the single longitudinal mode. Nevertheless, the DPCM produces phase locking of the single-mode laser with one of the longitudinal modes of the multimode laser. Only the longitudinal mode survives after the transmission through the DPCM, demonstrating the coherence length recovery of the multimode laser.     

Influence of post-growth treatment on the holographic storage properties of In:Fe:LiNbO3

The congruent In (3 mol%):Fe (0.03 wt%): LiNbO₃ crystal has been grown by Czochralski method in air. Some crystal samples were reduced in Li₂CO₃ powder, and others were oxidized in Nb₂O₅ powder. The defects and ions location in crystal were investigated by infrared (IR) transmission spectrum. The photorefractive properties were measured by two-wave coupling and light-induced scattering resistance experiments. In the oxidized sample, the photovoltaic effect was the dominant process during recording. However, for the as-grown sample as well as the reduced, the photorefractive effect was governed by the diffuse field and the photovoltaic field, together. In addition, the reduction treatment made the photoconductivity increase, which resulted in shorter erasure time and lower diffraction efficiency, but higher light-induced scattering resistance ability. The oxidation treatment caused the inverse effect.     

Improvement of photorefractive properties in Hf:Fe:LiNbO3 crystals with various [Li]/[Nb] ratios

Photorefractive properties of Hf:Fe:LiNbO3 crystals with various [Li]/[Nb] ratios have been investigated at 488 nm wavelength based on the two-wave coupling experiment. High diffraction efficiency and large recording sensitivity are observed and explained. The decrease in Li vacancies is suggested to be the main contributor to the increase in the photoconductivity and subsequently to the induction of the improvement of recording sensitivity. The saturation diffraction efficiency is measured up to 80.2%, and simultaneously the recording sensitivity of 0.91 cm/J is achieved to in the Hf:Fe:LiNbO3 crystal grown from the melt with the [Li]/[Nb] ratio of 1.20, which is significantly enhanced as compared with those of the Hf:Fe:LiNbO3 crystal with the [Li]/[Nb] ratio of 0.94 in melt under the same experimental conditions. Experimental results definitely show that increasing the [Li]/[Nb] ratio in crystal is an effective method for Hf:Fe:LiNbO3 crystal to improve its photorefractive properties.     

一般切割面的铋硅族氧化物光折变增益特性及动态光栅优化

利用耦合张量对光折变旋光，电光，压电及弹光铋硅族氧化物晶体中光波本征模的作用，在任意晶体切割面上求解了弱耦合的矢量波耦合方程, 并利用有效耦合概念处理了非旋光晶体 中的矢量波耦合问题. 进而计算旋光和非旋光材料中信号光的增益, 并分别比较各向同性耦 合和各向异性耦合对增益的影响. 对旋光材料优化增益，并把处理结果应用于BSO和BTO晶体 . 还讨论了压电和弹光效应对(110)，(111)及(112)切割面优化增益的影响. 关键词： 铋硅族氧化物 光折变 旋光效应 压电 弹光效应     

Strong and fast phase modulation for quantitative analysis of photorefractive gratings

A new approach for studying photorefractive gratings in two-wave mixing experiments by a phase modulation technique is presented. The introduction of a large-amplitude, high-frequency sinusoidal phase modulation in one of the input beams blurs the interference pattern and provides powerful harmonic signals for accurate measurements of the grating diffraction efficiency η and the output phase shift ϕ between the transmitted and diffracted waves. The blurring of the light fringes can be used to suppress the higher spatial harmonics of the grating, allowing a space-charge field with sinusoidal profile to be recorded. Although the presence of such a strong phase modulation affects the beam coupling in a rather complicated way, it is shown that for the special case of equal intensity input beams, the effect of the phase modulation on η and ϕ is reduced to a weakening of the coupling strength. The potentialities of the technique are illustrated in a study of refractive-index waves excited by running interference patterns in a Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ crystal. Expressions for the diffraction efficiency and the output phase shift are derived and used to match numerically calculated curves to the experimental data. The theoretical model is supported by the very good data fitting and allows the computation of important material parameters. PACS 42.40.Ht; 42.40.Kw; 42.70.Nq     

用自散焦介质观测Ce：BaTiO3晶体的自泵浦相位共轭频移

提出利用自散焦介质作为载体测量光折变晶体自泵浦相位共轭的微小频移的新方法，适宜用于区分二波耦合，四波辊频对频移的贡献，为研究光折变自泵浦相位共轭频移的产生机制提供了一种新的可能的途径。     

Photorefractive properties of MnO-doped near stoichiometric LiNbO3 crystals

In this paper, photorefractive properties of MnO-doped near stoichiometric LiNbO₃ (SLN) were studied. The SLN crystals doped with different concentration of Mn ions have been grown by the top-seeded-solution-growth method by adding K₂O flux to Li₂O-Nb₂O₅ melt. The crystal structures were analyzed by the UV-vis spectra and IR spectra. The photorefractive properties of SLN were experimentally studied by using two-beam coupling. The results of the two-wave coupling experiments showed that, with a He-Ne laser of 632.8 nm wavelength, the MnO-doped SLN crystals had long writing time and long erasure time constants, and the dynamic range (M/#), sensitivity (S), and diffraction efficiency were dependent on the doping concentration.     

Photorefractive properties and self-pumped phase conjugation in a series of BaTiO3 crystals

This paper presents the experimental results of two-wave mixing and self-pumped phase conjugation (SPPC) in barium titanate (BaTiO₃) crystals doped with Rh or Ce. It has been shown that the main parameters of SPPC depend very strongly on the concentrations of dopants, the incident angles and the crystal cut used. High gain in two-wave mixing corresponds to low phase-conjugate reflectivity in all samples. It is impossible to maintain the highest reflectivity and gain simultaneously, because the gain will definitely be limited when we try to get the highest reflectivity, and vice versa. Some qualitative explanation of the experimental results is also given. Received: 5 January 2001 / Final version: 25 May 2001 / Published online: 19 September 2001     

Coherent signal beam amplification in two-wave mixing experiments with photorefractive Bi12SiO20 crystals

The amplification of the input signal beam in two-wave mixing experiments with photorefractive Bi₁₂SiO₂₀ crystals is achieved when an additional phase shift is established between the photoinduced index modulation (phase volume hologram) and the incident fringe pattern. This stationary phase shift is introduced by either moving the crystal or the interference fringes at a constant speed. The transferred intensity is measured versus the applied electric field, fringe spacing and crystal velocity. The crystallographic orientation and the relative displacement with respect to the applied electric field polarity determine the amplitude of the energy transfer. For the first time in this crystal, signal beam amplification is reached for an applied field E₀ > 8 kV cm^?1 and a crystal or fringe displacement speed around 5 μm s^?1 at the green line (λ = 514 nm) of an argon laser.