Self-focusing and soliton propagation of light pulses in photorefractive media

Delphine Wolfersberger (1) , Nicolas Fressengeas (1) , Jean Maufoy (1) , Godefroy Kugel (1)

1 LMOPS - Laboratoire Matériaux Optiques, Photonique et Systèmes

The paper presents a theoretical and experimental investigation of the self-focusing of a laser pulse in a photorefractive medium on a nanosecond time-scale. For times shorter than the dielectric recombination time, we analyze the space-charge field build-up with time and space and provide strong hints on the short time self-focusing of a narrow powerful beam. In order to validate our theoretical and numerical analysis, systematic investigations were performed on a Bi12TiO20 crystal, which show that under the influence of an applied electric field, a beam can be self-focused in a very short time.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]

Delphine Wolfersberger, Nicolas Fressengeas, Jean Maufoy, Godefroy Kugel. Self-focusing and soliton propagation of light pulses in photorefractive media. 1998 International Conference on Applications of Photonic Technology III: Closing the Gap between Theory, Development, and Applications, Jul 1998, Ottawa, Canada. pp.720-725, ⟨10.1117/12.328615⟩. ⟨hal-00256694⟩