Observation of the Light Beam Evolution in a Biased SBN Crystal in Pulsed and Continuous Regime

Christelle Hesse (1) , Delphine Wolfersberger (1) , Nicolas Fressengeas (1) , Godefroy Kugel (1)

1 LMOPS - Laboratoire Matériaux Optiques, Photonique et Systèmes

Photorefractive self-focusing and self-trapping has proved, over the past decade, to be an efficient low power method able to provide beam control and steering. Over the years, photorefractive SrxBa1 xNb2O6 has been shown to be the most promising photorefractive media in this field. Its ability to sustain photorefractive solitons at steady state has been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, the focus is set on the temporal development of self focusing in SrxBa1 xNb2O6, evidencing a soft transition from self-focusing through self-bending and finally optical-branching. This evolution is shown to occur not only as a function of experimental conditions such as electric field applied or beam intensity, but also as a function of time.

Keywords: Photorefractive effect; self-focusing; SBN

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

Christelle Hesse, Delphine Wolfersberger, Nicolas Fressengeas, Godefroy Kugel. Observation of the Light Beam Evolution in a Biased SBN Crystal in Pulsed and Continuous Regime. 6th Euroconference on Applications of Polar Dielectrics (ECAPD-6), Sep 2002, Aveiro, Portugal. pp.109-116, ⟨10.1080/00150190390239198⟩. ⟨hal-00256712⟩