Light-induced scattering in photorefractive crystals

Light-induced scattering features in LiNbO₃- and BaTiO₃-crytals are compared with theories on holographic writing in photorefractive crystals. It is shown that they describe the experimental facts concerning the expected main scattering directions for a given incident polarization, the time development, the thickness and the wavelength dependence. Time records of the transmission offer a useful alternative for the determination of the photoconductivity. Furthermore, a new method for birefringence measurements is established. The high accuracy of this method is based on the automatic fulfillment of a phase matching condition by the anisotropically scattered radiation.