Observation of Dynamic Photorefractive effect in Lithium Niobate Waveguides

L. Wan, Y. Yuan, and G. Assanto

Opt. Commun. 73, 439-442 (1989)

Abstract:

We report the experimental observation of a transitory state during the build-up of photorefractive effects in lithium niobate slab waveguides. By prism coupling light into and out of the structure, we observed a relatively fast-time dependent spatial distortion of the output coupled beam. The experimental results are interpreted qualitatively in terms of a dynamic-state photorefractive effect, due to the photo-excitation of impurity-localized dipoles. A model of this mechanism is briefly outlined in conjunction with the formation of a holographic grating due to in-plane light scattering.