Voltage reduction for photorefractive two-wave mixing in InP:Fe by optical gap control

We report a method to increase the photorefractive two-wave mixing gain coefficient in semiconductors by using additional incident laser radiation. Two auxiliary beams are used to optimize the spatial distribution of an applied electrical field via modulation of the photoconductivity of the sample. By applying a voltage of 3.5 kV on a 4.3 mm thick InP:Fe crystal we obtain a two-wave mixing gain of 9 cm^–1. This is about 50% larger than that obtained without auxiliary beams.     

Photorefractive effect in Fe-doped GaN

The photorefractive effect was observed in Fe-doped semi-insulating GaN. We measured the two-beam coupling constant and the grating formation time as a function of pump intensity at a wavelength of 458 nm in reflection geometry. The photorefractive gain coefficient was 0.39 cm⁻¹, and the grating formation time was 7 ms at a pump intensity of 1.0 W/cm². Besides the refractive index grating, the contribution of an absorption grating was also observed in a two-wave mixing experiment. The coupling constant of the absorption grating was negative and increased with the pump intensity. The origin of the absorption grating was attributed to light-intensity-dependent photochromism.     

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.     

Control of sensitivity to hologram storage in LiNbO3 using an accessory photovoltaic crystal

Enhancement of sensitivity to hologram storage in a LiNbO₃ crystal is reported by using an accessory photovoltaic LiNbO₃ crystal, highly iron doped and reduced. With an illumination of 600 mW/cm² at λ=0.48 μm of the photovoltaic crystal the photogenerated electric field is about 10 kV/cm. This field is applied to a storage crystal having a higher resistivity and improves substantially the photorefractive sensitivity and saturation of the diffraction efficiency.     

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.     

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.     

外电场对SBN：Cr晶体二波耦合特性的影响及应用

对固液同成分SBN：Cr(Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O.6：Cr)晶体在外加直流电场作用下的光折变二波耦合特性及其应用进行了实验研究，分析了晶体的二波耦合强度增益 系数随外电场变化的趋势，并给出了实验测量结果.发现在适当的外电场作用下，晶体的光折变二波耦合增益和响 应速度可以得到一定程度的提高.进一步的研究表明，这种电场响应特性有助于改善SBN：Cr晶体的某些应用性能.利用该晶体通过光折变二波耦合非线性放大原理实现光学图像边沿增强时，通过给晶体沿轴向施加适当的外电场，可进一步提高图像边沿增强效果；在基于光 折变边沿增强预处理的联合变换相关器中，适当的外加电场可进一步改善联合变换相关器的相关识别性能. 关键词： SBN：Cr晶体 光折变二波耦合 边沿增强 联合变换相关器     

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.     

Effects of vanadium doping on structure and electrical properties of SrBi4Ti4O15 thin films

The effects of vanadium(V) doping into SrBi₄Ti₄O₁₅ (SBTi) thin films on the structure, ferroelectric, leakage current, dielectric, and fatigue properties have been studied. X-ray diffraction result showed that the crystal structure of the SBTi thin films with and without vanadium is the same. Enhanced ferroelectricity was observed in the V-doped SrBi₄Ti₄O₁₅ (SrBi_4−x/3Ti_4−xV_xO₁₅, SBTiV-x (x = 0.03, 0.06, and 0.09)) thin films compared to the pure SrBi₄Ti₄O₁₅ thin film. The values of remnant polarization (2P_r) and coercive field (2E_c) of the SBTiV-0.09 thin film capacitor were 40.9 μC/cm² and 105.6 kV/cm at an applied electric field of 187.5 kV/cm, respectively. The 2P_r value is over five times larger than that of the pure SBTi thin film capacitor. At 100 kHz, the values of dielectric constant and dielectric loss were 449 and 0.04, and 214 and 0.06 for the SBTiV-0.09 and the pure SBTi thin film capacitors, respectively. The leakage current density of the SBTiV-0.09 thin film capacitor measured at 100 kV/cm was 6.8 × 10⁻⁹ A/cm², which is more than two and a half orders of magnitude lower than that of the pure SBTi thin film capacitor. Furthermore, the SBTiV-0.09 thin film exhibited good fatigue endurance up to 10¹⁰ switching cycles. The improved electrical properties may be related to the reduction of internal defects such as bismuth and oxygen vacancies with changes in the grain size by doping of vanadium into SBTi.     

OBSERVATION OF PHOTOREFRACTIVE EFFECT OF KNbO3 CRYSTAL AT μW ILLUMINATION

The photorefractive effects of the as-grown and proton-implanted KNbO₃ crystals were studied by two-wave mixing at 62.2μW/cm² illumination. At this pump power level, the as-grown crystal showed little photorefractive effect, while the proton-implanted crystal showed an obvious effect. Furthermore, there seemed to exist two photorefractive gratings with response times of 22.54 and 1596.30s, at 62.2μW/cm² pump power level, in the proton-implanted sample. This phenomenon has been attributed to the influence of proton-implantation.     

High-speed photorefraction at telecommunication wavelength 1.55 microm in Sn2P2S6:Te

We demonstrated for what is the first time to our knowledge photorefractive two-wave mixing in a bulk ferroelectric crystal using cw light at the telecommunication wavelength 1.55 microm. In the Te-doped ferroelectric semiconductor Sn2P2S6 with absorption constant <0.1 cm(-1) at 1.55 microm, grating recording times of 10 ms and a two-beam coupling gain of 2.8 cm(-1) have been measured at 350 mW power (intensity 440 W/cm(2)) without a necessity to apply an external electric field. With a moving grating technique, a maximal gain of 6.0 cm(-1) has been obtained.     

Calculation of the gain in optically active photorefractive crystals considering the self-diffraction in a two-wave mixing process

We present a physical and computational procedure to calculate the gain in a two-wave mixing process in a thick optically active photorefractive BSO crystal under diffusion regime. The procedure is based on the integration of the amplitude of the signal beam through the sample. In the model, the effects of self-diffraction are taken into account by using the more general expression of the diffraction efficiency for the case of dynamic gratings. It allows also including the effects of the optical activity on the coupling factors and not only on the rotation of the optical field vectors when the waves are propagated along the crystal. The <001> crystallographic configuration is used. The model is used to predict the behavior of the gain as a function of the beam polarization angle. Numerical and experimental results using crystals with thickness of 5 mm and 10 mm are presented. A good agreement between the proposed model and the experimental measurements is observed.     

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     

Search for the neutron EDM by crystal-diffraction method. Test experiment and future progress

Possible future progress of the crystal-diffraction neutron electric dipole moment search experiment is discussed. A storage modification of the experiment is proposed. It is demonstrated that sensitivity of the method can be a few 10⁻²⁷ e cm for the BSO crystal with the size 10×10×10 cm³ and expected luminosity of European Spallation Source (ESS).     

Beam amplification resulting from non-Bragg wave mixing in photorefractive strontium barium niobate

Two-wave mixing with a small angle between beams in a photorefractive crystal biased with an external electric field leads to the formation of additional non-Bragg orders and to wave amplification. A steady-state gain of 25 cm (-1) was obtained for an external voltage of 3 kV/cm in strontium barium niobate. Noise amplification and oscillation are also demonstrated.     

Highly efficient hologram enhancement in Bi12TiO20 fibre-type crystal

Experimental results for two-wave mixing experiments in a single Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ fibre-type crystal at a wavelength of 632.8 nm under transverse a.c. electric field are reported. An exponential gain factor =4.7 cm^-1, which is much higher than the absorption coefficient (0.6 cm^-1), is obtained. It is observed that the signal beam enhancement is in fact signal beam depletion for spatial frequencies higher than F _B, which is determined by fibre geometry. An unusually strong dependence of response time on the recording beams intensities ratio reflects the nonlinearities of the multi-two-wave mixing process.     

Piezoelectric measurements on BiFeO3 single crystal by Raman scattering

The piezoelectric response of BiFeO₃ at low temperature has been investigated by Raman scattering measurements. The application of an external electric field at T=10 K induces frequency shifts of the lowest frequency mode related to the Bi-O bonds and corresponding to the soft mode of the ferroelectric transition. The piezoelectric effect is responsible for the softening of this mode via the tensile stress leading to the expansion of the crystal. The phonon deformation potential associated with the soft mode has been estimated around −200 cm⁻¹/strain units using the linear piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃=16 pm/V. It found in the range of the ones obtained for typical piezoelectrics.     

Holographic and photoelectric characterization of a novel photorefractive organic glass

We present a detailed study of the photoelectric as well as the holographic properties of a novel organic photorefractive glass based on triphenylamine. We studied the quantum efficiency Φ of the photogeneration of charges by means of photoinduced discharge measurements. The photoconductivity σ and the charge carrier mobility μ were obtained via dc photoconduction and pulsed time-of-flight experiments, respectively. The holographic characterization was performed by two-wave and degenerate four-wave mixing experiments allowing for the determination of properties such as diffraction efficiency η, modulation of the refractive index Δn, gain coefficient Γ, and phase-shift φ_p of the investigated system. The experimental data for Φ could be successfully described by the Onsager formalism with a thermalization radius of r₀=24 ? and a primary quantum yield of Φ₀=40%. We evaluated the E field and temperature-dependent measurements of μ using the B?ssler formalism yielding a width of the density of states of σ=0.13 eV and a disorder parameter Σ=3.6. On this basis the lifetime and the average drift length of the charge carriers could be estimated from the dc photoconduction experiments. From the photoelectric measurements we also calculated the holographic response time that matched very well to the measured response time and described the E-field dependence satisfactorily. The presented photorefractive system shows outstanding optical properties and stability with respect to degradation. We measured a gain coefficient of Γ=90 cm^-1, and a diffraction efficiency of η=27% at a response time of 30 ms for only 40-μm-thick samples. Orientational enhancement was observed and evaluated quantitatively. To our knowledge, this work presents the first determination of each of the above quantities all in one single organic photorefractive material. Received: 16 November 1998 / Revised version: 4 January 1999 / Published online: 31 March 1999     

Novel procedure for the simultaneous determination of the Debye length and electro-optic coefficient for an optically active photorefractive Bi12SiO20 crystal

We present a novel procedure based on an improved physical model and a versatile numerical fitting technique, to simultaneously determinate the Debye screening length and electro-optic coefficient using a thick sample of an optically active photorefractive crystal Bi₁₂SiO₂₀ (BSO). For the computation, experimental data of gain vs. grating spacing were obtained by a two-beam coupling arrangement. Unlike former calculation models, in our work, the general expression for the diffraction efficiency in the presence of self-diffraction is considered, and the influence of the optical activity in the coupling parameters is had into account for the calculation of the gain values. The fitting of the experimental data to the predicted theoretical behavior by our model is achieved by finding the closest theoretical curve to a set of data sampled from a spline-smoothed curve of the experimental data. Both, the Debye screening length l_s and the electro-optic coefficient r₄₁ are used as fitting parameters by searching in a rather wide range for each one of the parameters, so that, the estimation of their values is obtained in a more reliable and direct way from the same experiment. The calculations are performed in diffusion regimen and the procedure leads to l_s = 0.22 μm and r₄₁ = 4.5 × 10 ^− 12m/V. Because the optical activity can alter the maximum gain and self-diffraction effects influence the energy exchange, the procedure reveals to be physically appropriated for the simultaneous determination of these physical parameters when thick photorefractive crystals with high optical activity are considered.     

Grating formation in Fe:LiNbO<Subscript>3</Subscript> photorefractive crystal by chirped 800-nm femtosecond laser pulses operated at 1 kHz

We demonstrate an extension of forming a photorefractive volume grating in an Fe:LiNbO₃ crystal by chirped intense femtosecond laser pulses generated from a Ti:Al₂O₃ regenerative amplifier at 1 kHz. We confirm that one-photon absorption is still dominant in the Fe:LiNbO₃ crystal up to 70 GW/cm². To generate a photorefractive grating at such a low laser repetition rate within a practical writing time, the laser pulse intensity is increased to >30 GW/cm². Furthermore, we demonstrate the amplification of femtosecond laser pulses by the chirped volume grating that is written in the Fe:LiNbO₃ by two-wave mixing.