X-ray-induced photochromic effects in copper-doped lithium niobate crystals

X-Ray-induced absorption changes in Cu-doped lithium niobate crystals (LiNbO₃) are investigated. All induced photochromic effects are fully reversible, i.e., illumination with white light annihilates the absorption changes. With increasing doping level, a decrease in the saturation value of the absorption changes is found. Changes of the Li concentration of the crystal to a more stoichiometric composition via Li indiffusion further decreases the photochromic effect. For sufficient X-ray doses, the saturation value is independent of the radiation energy in the measured range from 50–150 kV. The spectral distribution of the X-ray-induced absorption changes and the slow dark decay indicate that the additional absorption results from an increase of the Cu⁺ concentration. Received: 20 December 2000 / Revised version: 24 January 2001 / Published online: 27 April 2001     

Hydrogen in lithium niobate

This article reviews the current knowledge on the main properties and applications of hydrogen in LiNbO₃. The review is divided into three parts. The first is devoted to general properties such as methods of defect production and control, techniques used for their detection and characterization, as well as interactions with other lattice defects. The second part considers the central role played by OH^- defects in the fabrication of optical waveguides by the protonexchange method. Conditions for the exchange process, the structure of exchanged layers, optical properties of exchanged waveguides and connection with relevant practical devices are examined. Finally, the third part discusses the production of permanent volume photorefractive gratings by the fixing process, where OH^- ions are also considered to be the main responsible defects. In particular, the physics of the fixing process, current mathematical models and two major applications are discussed.     

Photoinduced domains in lithium niobate

We have observed the optically induced occurrence of domain structure with polarization opposite to the spontaneous polarization of a single-domain sample of lithium niobate. The appearance of the domains can be explained by a redistribution of the density of the Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ impurity ions under the action of the photoinduced field and subsequent additional inverse polarization of the environment surrounding the Fe²⁺ ions. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 531–533 (March 1998)     

Two-photon apodization in lithium niobate

We demonstrate a novel apodization technique for holographic data storage using two-photon recording in stoichiometric lithium niobate. The gating light-intensity profile is used to achieve grating apodization inside the bulk of the crystal during recording in the transmission geometry. Experimental Bragg-selectivity curves and theoretical fits indicate a >20-dB drop in multiplexing cross talk.     

Electro-optic lithium niobate metasurfaces

Many applications of metasurfaces require an ability to dynamically change their properties in the time domain. Electrical tuning techniques are of particular interest, since they pave a way to on-chip integration of metasurfaces with optoelectronic devices.In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an electro-optic lithium niobate(EO-LN) metasurface that shows dynamic modulations to phase retardation of transmitted light. Quasi-bound states in the continuum(QBIC) are observed from this metasurface. By applying external electric voltages, the refractive index of lithium niobate(LN) is changed by Pockels EO nonlinearity, leading to efficient phase modulations to the transmitted light around the QBIC wavelength. The EO-LN metasurface developed in this study opens up new routes for potential applications in the field of displaying, pulse shaping, and spatial light modulating.     

Photoelectric fields in lithium niobate crystals

Photovoltaic and diffusion fields in nominally pure single crystals of stoichiometric composition (R = Li/Nb = 1) grown in the presence of 6 wt% K₂O flux (LiNbO₃ stoich. K₂O) in nominally pure single crystals of complementary composition (LiNbO₃), complementary single crystals doped with Zn²⁺, Er³⁺ at wavelength of 476, 514.5, 530 nm are defined according to parameters of photo induced light scattering indicatrix. Photo induced changes of crystals’ refractive index are defined.     

Reflection holograms in iron-doped lithium niobate

Received: 7 November 1996/Revised version: 16 December 1996     

铌酸锂晶体中的磁光折变效应研究

对于掺铁铌酸锂晶体中不同全息记录配置下的磁光折变效应做了比较系统的理论分析，给出了铌酸锂晶体所有的磁光生伏打非零张量元. 详细计算并给出了不同全息纪录配置下的所有体光生伏打、磁光生伏打电流的解析形式. 理论结果表明，由于磁光生伏打效应引起了光激发电流的变化，所以对于每种配置全息光栅的衍射效率都会受到外加磁场的影响；对于不同的全息记录配置，磁场对铌酸锂晶体光折变非线性性质的影响也不同.讨论了一种确定特定张量元的方法. 关键词： 磁光生伏打 磁光折变效应 光生伏打     

Femtosecond holography in lithium niobate crystals

Spatial gratings are recorded holographically by two femtosecond pump pulses at 388 nm in lithium niobate (LiNbO3) crystals and read out by a Bragg-matched, temporally delayed probe pulse at 776 nm. We claim, to our knowledge, the first holographic pump-probe experiments with subpicosecond temporal resolution for LiNbO3. An instantaneous grating that is due mostly to the Kerr effect as well as a long-lasting grating that results mainly from the absorption caused by photoexcited carriers was observed. The Kerr coefficient of LiNbO3 for our experimental conditions, i.e., pumped and probed at different wavelengths, was approximately 1.0 x 10(-5) cm2/GW.     

Polaron luminescence in iron-doped lithium niobate

Photoluminescence related to the bound polaron Nb_Li⁴⁺ is investigated as a function of temperature and incident light intensity in iron-doped lithium niobate crystals with various iron concentrations. Experiments are done under constant-wave (CW) and pulsed illumination. Its found that the decay time is always monoexponential. The radiative lifetime, the activation energy of the nonradiative lifetime and the quenching temperature are only weakly sensitive to iron concentration. On the other hand, the magnitude of the photoluminescence signal seems strongly correlated to the Fe²⁺ concentration, and the superlinear regime evidenced at low CW illumination definitely confirms that polaron excitation in lithium niobate is a two-step process.     

Optical spectra of lithium niobate

The specific features revealed in the optical spectra of lithium niobate crystals at temperatures of 90 and 120–125°C can be attributed to the change in the electronic subsystem and the related isostructural transformation of the crystal lattice. In the near-IR range, the optical absorption spectra of lithium niobate crystals exhibit bands (1.43 eV) assigned to polarons of large radius with a binding energy of 0.48 eV. The decrease observed in the absorption coefficient at the maxima of these bands with an increase in the temperature to 160°C can be explained by the decay of polarons of large radius at these temperatures.     

Frequency-doubling in self-induced waveguides in lithium niobate

Efficient frequency-doubling is experimentally demonstrated in presence of beam self-trapping in congruent lithium niobate crystal. The self-trapping is induced by the generated second harmonic beam via photorefractive effect under an external applied field. The local space charge field distribution, formed by the second harmonic beam, is shown to efficiently trap both wavelengths. The dynamics of self-focusing is studied along with the power evolution of the second harmonic beam. Fast tuning of phase matching conditions in the written waveguide is realized by an externally applied voltage also used for the photorefractive confinement.     

Angle-tuned second-harmonic generation in periodically-poled lithium niobate

We investigated angular tuning of quasi-phase-matching (QPM) second-harmonic generation (SHG), in order to extend the tunable range of QPM and to combine the advantages of QPM and birefringence phase-matching. The direction of the input fundamental wave vector was detuned from the QPM grating vector along the crystallographic Z-axis of a periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal in the XY- and XZ-planes. A?larger tuning range of SHG was obtained for the detuning in the XZ-plane, continuously shifting the QPM peak of the fundamental wavelength from 1524 to 1595?nm by changing the detuning angle from 0° (parallel to X-axis as conventional QPM) to 23.2°.     

Coherent backscattering in lithium niobate whispering-gallery-mode resonators

Splitting of high-Q whispering gallery modes into a doublet of counterpropagating modes was observed in a resonator fabricated from LiNbO(3). An energy-transfer rate of 10 MHz was calculated by measuring the frequency detuning of the doublet structure. The splitting rate is also used to calculate the maximum variation in the internal index of refraction over one wavelength, which is of the order of 10(-7). This shows that the mechanical process used to fabricate whispering-gallery-mode resonators from LiNbO(3) is sufficient to achieve material-limited quality factors.     

Electrical fixing in near-stoichiometric lithium niobate crystals

Photorefractive gratings are recorded in lithium niobate crystals in the presence of externally applied electric fields close to the coercive field. After optical erasure a voltage pulse above the poling threshold is applied, and by these means a photorefractive grating reappears that can be erased optically. The results point to electrical fixing, i.e., ferroelectric domain reversal induced by a space-charge field.     

Two-color pulse compression in aperiodically-poled lithium niobate

We experimentally demonstrate engineerable compression of two-colored pulses in a linearly-chirped quasi-phase-matching grating. Quadratic solitons generated from fundamental input are reshaped through cascaded parametric processes of second-harmonic generation (SHG) and the back-conversion. We use type-I (e: o + o) SHG geometry in a 50-mm-long aperiodically-poled MgO:LiNbO₃ device to satisfy the group-velocity matching condition. Simultaneously compressed fundamental and SH pulses of about 55-fs duration with small pedestal are generated from the fundamental input pulses of 95-fs duration.     

Dark conductivity in copper-doped lithium niobate crystals

The impact of protons and copper on the dark conductivity of copper-doped photorefractive lithium niobate crystals is investigated by observation of the dark decay of holograms. The dark conductivity is significantly smaller than that of iron-doped lithium niobate. A non-mono-exponential hologram decay is observed, which needs to be considered for multiplexing of holograms. Received: 25 March 2002 / Published online: 2 May 2002     

High temperature transport processes in lithium niobate

The electrical conductivity of single crystal lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) was determined as a function of temperature for various oxygen partial pressures. The electrical conductivity is proportional to P_o2^−1/4 which can be explained by a defect equilibrium involving singly ionized oxygen vacancies and electrons.

Measurements of electrical transport numbers at 1000°K show the electrical conductivity of LiNbO₃ to be ionic at one atmosphere of oxygen and electronic at low oxygen partial pressures.

Thermoelectric measurements indicate that LiNbO₃ at low oxygen partial pressures is n-type and that the concentration of electrons at 1000°K and in an atmosphere of 50% C0/50% CO₂a is 4 × 10¹⁷cm³ with a mobility of 1.7 cm²V sec.

The diffusion of oxygen in LiNbO₃ was determined as a function of temperature at an oxygen partial pressure of 70 Torr. by measuring O¹⁸/O¹⁶ isotope exchange with the gas phase as a function of time. The diffusion data may be represented by D = 3.03 × 10⁻⁶ exp (−29.4 kcal mole⁻¹/RT)cm²sec. Consideration of the Nernst-Einstein relation for oxygen and the variation in conductivity with Li₂O activity indicate that the ionic conduction is caused by transport of lithium ions.     

Photorefraction of molybdenum-doped lithium niobate crystals

Molybdenum-doped lithium niobate crystals were grown under different polarization conditions and their holographic properties were investigated. In contrast to current dopants, hexavalent molybdenum prefers niobium sites. Thereby, holographic storage becomes possible from the ultraviolet to the visible with considerably lower response time. The response time of 0.5 mol. % Mo-doped LiNbO(3) can be especially shortened to as small as 0.35 s with a still high saturation diffraction efficiency of about 60% at 351 nm. Molybdenum-doped lithium niobate thus is a promising candidate for all-color holographic storage applications.     

On-chip erbium-doped lithium niobate waveguide amplifiers

Lithium niobate on insulator[LNOI],as an emerging and promising optical integration platform,faces shortages of on-chip active devices including lasers and ampl...