Self-enhancement effect during nonvolatile holographic storage in photochromic LiNbO3∶Fe∶Mn crystals

Through theoretical investigation on the nonvolatile holographic storage in photochromic LiNbO3∶Fe∶Mn, we have found self-enhancement effect caused by beam-coupling effect during both recording and optical fixing phases, and proceeded a steady-state analysis and a numerical simulation about the effect. The experimental results obtained by self-enhancement and self-depletion are consistent with the theoretical analysis. From the theoretical and experimental studies, it is seen that the highest diffraction efficiency available from the self-enhancement during both the recording and fixing phases may be twice as large as the lowest one from the self-depletion. It demonstrates that self-enhancement effect has to be considered and utilized in practical applications for nonvolatile holographic storage. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to report the relevant results.