One-dimensional optical bright screening photovoltaic photorefractive solitons, soliton pairs and incoherent interaction between them in BaTiO3 crystal

By the use of theory of optical solitons, nonlinear equations governed by screening photorefractive photovoltaic solitons are introduced. By means of numerical methods, intensity profile, refractive index change of the media and also stability under propagation are investigated. Self-bending of solitons under first-order diffusion is also studied. Besides, incoherent coupled bright-bright soliton pairs and incoherent interaction are studied.     

Holographic recording in Fe:Ce:Ti doped LiNbO3 crystal

High diffraction efficiency measurements in a triply doped Fe:Ce:Ti-LiNbO₃ crystal are reported. The crystal shows an improved recording sensitivity, weak light-induced scattering and extremely slow readout erasure which makes it highly desirable for non-volatile data storage applications. The suitability of the crystal was demonstrated by high quality holographic recording and retrieval of several astronomical images using shift and rotational multiplexing scheme.     

Pyroelectric photovoltaic spatial solitons in unbiased photorefractive crystals

A new type of spatial solitons i.e. pyroelectric photovoltaic spatial solitons based on the combination of pyroelectric and photovoltaic effect is predicted theoretically. It shows that bright, dark and grey spatial solitons can exist in unbiased photovoltaic photorefractive crystals with appreciable pyroelectric effect. Especially, the bright soliton can form in self-defocusing photovoltaic crystals if it gives larger self-focusing pyroelectric effect.     

Higher-order space-charge field effects on the self-deflection of photovoltaic dark spatial solitons

We investigate theoretically the effects of higher-order space-charge field on the self-deflection of photovoltaic dark spatial solitons by numerical method under steady-state conditions. The expression for an induced space-charge electric field, including higher-order space-charge field terms is obtained. Numerical results indicate that photovoltaic dark solitons possess self-deflection process during propagation, and the solitons always bend in the direction of the c-axis of the crystal. The self-deflection of dark solitons can experience considerable increase especially in the regime of high photovoltaic field strengths. Relevant examples are provided.     

Fe:LiNbO3和(Fe,Tb):LiNbO3晶体中入射光强

用一种新的测量方法在不同入射光强下同时观测了Fe:LiNbO3和(Fe,Tb):LiNbO3晶体中光致折射率变化Δns、吸收系数α和光电导σph与入射光强I的依赖关系, 并从理论上对观测结果给予了初步解释。     

Self-deflection of steady-state bright spatial solitons in biased centrosymmetric photorefractive crystals

The effects of diffusion on self-deflection of steady-state bright spatial solitons in biased centrosymmetric photorefractive crystals are investigated systematically by both numerical and perturbation methods. The results show that the soliton propagates along a parabolic trajectory and the central spatial frequency component shifts linearly with the propagation distance. Both the deflection effects vary cubically with applied external bias field.     

Crystal diffraction grating in LiNbO3:Fe derived from interferometric volume holography

A 90° two-beam coupling configuration was used to store an image of an extended object in a 0.032 %wt iron-doped LiNbO₃ crystal. A volume hologram was thus generated, via the photorefractive effect, within the microstructure of the crystal. The time evolution of partial spatial erasure of the hologram under illumination was studied by capturing its reconstructed image on a digital camera and performing a two-dimensional inverse Fourier transform. This produced the refractive index grating created through interference of object and reference beams. The nature, intensity distribution and dimensions of the diffraction grating were derived in order to throw light upon the movement and mechanisms of charges, which create the index grating.     

Coherent interactions of multi bright spatial solitons in biased photorefractive crystals

The coherent interaction scenarios of two solitons, three solitons, and four solitons are presented. For two-soliton interactions, energy transfer and fusion between solitons are dependent on the relative phase of the interaction solitons, and for multi-soliton interactions, energy transfer will occur in all three relative phase conditions. The magnitude and direction of energy transfer can be controlled respectively by adjusting the interval and the relative phase of solitons.     

Higher-order space-charge field effects on the self-deflection of two-photon bright photovoltaic spatial solitons

We investigate numerically the effects of higher-order space-charge field on the self-deflection of bright photovoltaic spatial solitons in two-photon photovoltaic photorefractive crystals under steady-state conditions. The expression for an induced space-charge electric field, including higher-order space-charge field terms is obtained. The dynamical evolution equation is built in which the effects that arise from these higher-order terms are considered. Numerical results indicate that bright photovoltaic solitons can bend towards both the same direction as the crystal's c-axis and the opposite direction, respectively. Specifically, self-deflection cannot occur for bright photovoltaic solitons if the strength of the photovoltaic field and the intensity of the input beam are appropriately selected. Relevant examples are provided.     

Optical fabrication of three-dimensional photonic lattices in LiNbO3:Fe crystals with a single amplitude mask

We fabricate three-dimensional nonlinear photonic lattices in iron-doped lithium niobate photorefractive crystal for the first time by a single amplitude mask. The experimental setup of this method is very simple and flexible. The period of the lattices can be dominated easily. We analyze the three-dimensional photonic lattices by plane wave guiding and far field diffraction pattern imaging. The induced photonic lattices can exist stably for a long time in the photorefractive crystal.     

Study of near-infrared nonvolatile two-center holographic recording in LiNbO3:Fe:Rh crystal

The near-infrared nonvolatile holographic recording has been realized in a doubly doped LiNbO₃:Fe:Rh crystal by the traditional two-center holographic recording scheme, for the first time. The recording performance of this crystal has been investigated by recording with 633 nm red light, 752 nm red light and 799 nm near-infrared light and sensitizing with 405 nm purple light. The experimental results show that, co-doped with Fe and Rh, the near-infrared absorption and the photovoltaic coefficient of shallow trap Fe are enhanced in this LiNbO₃:Fe:Rh crystal, compared with other doubly doped LiNbO₃ crystals such as LiNbO₃:Fe:Mn. It is also found that the sensitizing light intensity affects the near-infrared recording sensitivity in a different way than two-center holographic recording with shorter wavelength, and the origin of experimental results is analyzed.     

Ultraviolet photorefractive effect in Mg-doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO3

The ultraviolet photorefractive effect of Mg-doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystals prepared by vapor transport equilibration (VTE) technique was studied at 351 nm. It was found in the near-stoichiometric LiNbO₃ crystals that the ultraviolet photorefractive effect could be enhanced greatly with the increase of Mg concentration. Based on the activation energy of dark decay of the photorefractive grating, possible centers responsible for the ultraviolet photorefractive effect were also discussed.     

UV-photorefractive effect in LiNbO3:Ce:Mn single crystal

In this paper, the ultraviolet (UV) photorefraction effect of lithium niobate doubly doped with Ce and Mn has been investigated. It is found the diffraction efficiency shows oscillating behavior under UV-light-recording. A model based on electrons and holes as the dominant carriers is proposed to study the oscillatory behavior of the diffraction efficiency. On the basis of the material equations and the coupled-wave equations, we found that the oscillatory behavior is due to the oscillation of the relative spatial phase shift Φ. And the electron-hole competition may cause the oscillation of the relative spatial phase shift. This oscillation behavior is different from that caused by very high-strength space electric field. UV recording can suppress the beam-fanning perfectly, and the most important is the high sensitivity.     

Effect of wavelength of sensitizing light on holographic storage properties in LiNbO3:Fe:Ni crystal

By sensitizing with 514 nm green light, 488 nm blue light and 390 nm ultraviolet light, respectively, recording with 633 nm red light, effect of wavelength of sensitizing light on holographic storage properties in LiNbO₃:Fe:Ni crystal is investigated in detail. It is shown that by shortening the wavelength of sensitizing light gradually, nonvolatile holographic recording properties of oxidized LiNbO₃:Fe:Ni crystal is optimized gradually, 390 nm ultraviolet light is the best as the sensitizing light. Considering the absorption of sensitizing light, to obtain the best performance in two-center holographic recording we must choose a sensitizing wavelength that is long enough to prevent unwanted absorptions (band-to-band, etc.) and short enough to result in efficient sensitization from the deep traps. So in practice a trade-off is always needed. Explanation is presented theoretically.     

Amplified backward scattering in LiNbO3:Fe

We study the characteristics of the amplified back-scattered light in a LiNbO₃:Fe crystal cut normal to the optic axis when it is illuminated with a linearly polarized parallel beam of monochromatic light. The scattered light forms different patterns depending on the direction of vibration of the incident beam. The incident beam and the back-scattered beams interfere and generate numerous ‘noisy’ gratings in the volume of the crystal which diffract and amplify selectivity the weak scattered beams. This study is of practical importance since a normally cut LiNbO₃:Fe crystal may be used as a self-starting non-linear adaptive mirror in laser cavities.     

Z-scan measurement for the nonlinear absorption and the nonlinear refraction of poly1,4-diazophenylene-bridged-tris(8-hydroxy-quinoline) aluminum (PDPAlq3)

The nonlinear optical properties of the poly1,4-diazophenylene-bridged-tris(8-hydroxy-quinoline) aluminum (PDPAlq₃) solution were studied using single beam Z-scan technique with a continuous-wave Diode laser radiation at 657.2 nm with 10 Hz repetition rate. The results show that the solution of PDPAlq₃ exhibits large nonlinear refractive index (n₂ = −1.7642 × 10⁻¹² m²/W) and nonlinear absorption coefficient (β = 1.12 × 10⁻⁶ m/W). The negative sign of the nonlinear refractive index n₂ indicates that the material exhibits self-defocusing optical nonlinearity. The evaluation of the figure of merit (W = 1.8) shows that the solution of PDPAlq₃ is sufficient for application in all-optical switching technology. These results show that the solution of PDPAlq₃ have potential application in nonlinear optics.     

Intensity dependence of two-center nonvolatile holographic recording in LiNbO3:Cu:Ce crystals

Nonvolatile photorefractive gratings have been recorded in LiNbO₃:Cu:Ce crystals by using a He–Ne laser (633 nm) for recording and an argon ion laser (458 nm) for sensitizing. The sensitizing light increases the recording sensitivity by a−bexp(−I_s/c) and saturation behavior will appear with high enough intensity of sensitizing light. The recording light increases the slope of η^1/2 as a function of time during the initial stages of hologram formation by sublinear I^x_r (x<1) and thus the recording light decreases the recording sensitivity. The dependence of saturation diffraction efficiency on the intensities of the recording and sensitizing light shows that there is a maximum dynamic range of the recording process.     

The Comparison of the Holographic Storage Properties of Fe:LiNbO3 and Fe:Ce:LiNbO3 Crystals

Holographic storage properties of iron-doped and cerium/iron-doped LiNbO3 with different doping concentrations and treatment conditions have been measured for different recording wavelengths. The results show that at recording wavelengths of 532 nm and 633 nm the holographic storage properties of Ce:Fe:LiNbO3 are generally better than those of Fe:LiNbO3.     

Investigation of nonvolatile holographic storage in LiNbO3:Mn:Ce:Fe crystal

We investigate the persistent holographic recording in triply doped LiNbO₃:Mn:Ce:Fe crystals at different oxidation/reduction states. The experimental results show that there is an optimum oxidation/reduction state, which results in the best dynamic range M/#. Compared with doubly doped LiNbO₃:Ce:Fe, we found that the nonvolatile diffraction efficiency and the best dynamic range M/# obtained in triply doped samples are larger than that obtained in doubly doped samples. The reason for the increase of the crystal about the nonvolatile diffraction efficiency and the dynamic range M/# was also explained.     

Hyper-Raman scattering in the LiNbO3 crystal

The hyper-Raman spectra in non-centrosvmmetric LiNbO₃ crystal were obtained using the multichannel recording technique. The hyper-Raman cross-section and non-linear susceptibility for the 151 cm^-1 band were measured.