Z-scan measurements of photorefractive nonlinearities for a SBN: Ce crystal

 In this paper, we derived the Z-scan formula for a photorefractive crystal sample under an external applied electric field. The far-field diffraction pattern of a Gaussian beam wavefront through a photorefractive crystal is calculated by considering spatial-phase perturbation induced by the space-charge field. The photorefractive drift nonlinearities and correspondingly, the electro-optic coefficients r ₃₃, r ₁₃, (r ₂₃) and the characteristic ratio n ³ _e r ₃₃/n ³ _o r ₁₃ for a cerium-doped Sr_0.61Ba_0.39Nb₂O₆ crystal are determined from the Z-scan experiments. Z-scan with enhanced sensitivity is also realized by measuring the normalized transmittance at the off-axis position in the far field. A deviation between the off-axis Z-scan experimental results and the theoretical prediction is discussed too. Received: 22 July 1996/Revised version: 7 October 1996