Abstract
Photorefractive gratings, which normally decay under illumination, can be fixed in ferroelectric crystals through the formation of ferroelectric domains that electrically compensate the space-charge field. In other words, the direction of the spontaneous polarization Ps of the crystal can be selectively eversed such that the bound charge located on the domain walls electrically compensates the light-induced space-charge distribution of the original grating. This effect was first observed in the 1970's in BaTiO31 and SBN (Sr0.75Ba0.25NbO6).2 Recently interest in this field has revived; however, the research has been concentrated again on SBN3,4 and BaTiO3.5 We show that it is also possible to fix gratings through ferroelectric domains in KNbO3.
© 1995 Optical Society of America
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