Abstract

The appearance of light intensity thresholds for catastrophic optical damage in LiNbO3 is satisfactorily explained by using a photorefractive model based on the Fe²⁺↔Fe³⁺ and NbLi⁴⁺↔NbLi⁵⁺ defect pairs. Model simulations of the photorefractive amplification gain as a function of the light intensity present sharp threshold behavior. A similar behavior is shown by the saturating refractive index change. In agreement with experiments, predicted thresholds appear shifted towards higher intensities (up to a 10⁴ factor) when the Nb_Li concentration is decreased or the temperature is increased. The model also explains very recent data on the threshold enhancement with the Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ ratio in optical waveguides.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

» View Full Text: Acrobat PDF (121 KB) 

History
Original Manuscript: September 6, 2007
Manuscript Accepted: November 27, 2007
Revised Manuscript: November 26, 2007
Published: January 2, 2008

References

1. L. Solymar, D. J. Webb, and A. Grunnet-Jepsen, The Physics and Applications of Photorefractive Materials, (Claredon, Oxford, 1996).
2. J. Feinberg, "Asymmetric self-defocusing of an optical beam from the photorefractive effect," J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72, 46-51 (1982).
3. A. A. Zozulya, M. Saffman, and D. Z. Anderson, "Propagation of light beams in photorefractive media: fanning, self-bending, and formation of self-pumped four-wave-mixing phase conjugation geometries," Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 818-21 (1994). [CrossRef]
4. D. J. Gauthier, P. Narum, and R. W. Boyd, "Observation of deterministic chaos in a phase-conjugate mirrior," Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 1640-3 (1987). [CrossRef]
5. D. Kip, and M. Wesner, in Photorefractive Materials and their applications 1, P. Günter and J. P. Huignard, Eds., (Springer, New York, 2006), Chap. 10.
6. T. Volk, M. Wolecke, and N. Rubinina, in Photorefractive Materials and their applications 2, P. Günter and J. P. Huignard, Eds., (Springer, New York, 2007), Chap. 6.
7. A. Alcazar de Velasco, J. Rams, J. M. Cabrera, and F. Agulló-Lopez, "Light-induced damage mechanisms in α-phase proton-exchanged LiNbO3 waveguides,"Appl. Phys. B 68, 989-93 (1999).
8. T. Pliska, D. Fluck, and P. Gunter, in Non-linear optical effects and materials, P. Gunter Ed., (Springer, Berlin, 2000), Chap. 6.
9. D. A. Bryan, R. Gerson, and H. E. Tomaschke, "Increased optical damage resistance in lithium niobate," Appl. Phys. Lett. 44, 847-9 (1984). [CrossRef]
10. W. M. Young, R. S. Feigelson, M. M. Fejer, M. J. F. Digonnet, and H. J. Shaw, "Photorefractive-damage-resistant Zn-diffused waveguides in MgO:LiNbO3," Opt. Lett. 16, 995-7 (1991).
11. M. Asobe, O. Tadanaga, T. Yanagawa, H. Itoh, and H. Suzuki, "Reducing photorefractive effect in periodically poled ZnO- and MgO-doped LiNbO3 wavelength converters," Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 3163-5 (2001). [CrossRef]
12. J. Rams, A. Alcazar de Velasco, M. Carrascosa, J. M. Cabrera, and F. Agulló-López, "Optical damage inhibition and thresholding effectd in lithium niobate above room temperature," Opt. Commun. 178, 211-6 (2000). [CrossRef]
13. A. Ikeda, T. Oi, K. Nakayama, Y. Otsuka, and Y. Fujii, "Temperature and electric field dependences of optical damage in proton-exchanged waveguides formed on MgO-doped lithium niobate crystals," Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.  44, L1407-9 (2005). [CrossRef]
14. O. Caballero-Calero, A , Alcázar, A . García-Cabañes, J. M. Cabrera, and M. Carrascosa, "Optical damage in x-cut proton exchanged LiNbO3 planar waveguides," J. Appl. Phys.  100, 93103-1-7 (2006).
15. M. Simon, St. Wevering, K. Buse, and E. Kratzig, "The bulk photovoltaic effect of photorefractive LiNbO3:Fe crystals at high light intensities," J. Phys. D 30,144-9 (1997). [CrossRef]
16. J. Carnicero, O. Caballero, M. Carrascosa, and J. M. Cabrera, "Superlinear photovoltaic currents in LiNbO3 analyses under the two-center model," Appl. Phys. B 79, 351-8 (2004).
17. E. Jermann, and J. Otten, "Light-induced charge transport in LiNbO3:Fe at high light intensities," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 10, 2085-92 (1993).
18. Y. Kondo, and Y. Fujii, "Photorefractive effect in proton-exchanged waveguiding layers formed on lithium niobate and lithium tantalate crystals," Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 34, L309-11 (1995). [CrossRef]
19. A. Erdmann, "The influence of shallow traps on the properties of LiNbO3 waveguides," Opt. Commun. 93, 44-8 (1992). [CrossRef]
20. K. Buse, "Light-induced charge transport processes in photorefractive crystals II: materials," Appl. Phys. B 64, 391-407 (1997). [CrossRef]
21. J. Carnicero, M. Carrascosa, A. Mendez, A. García-Cabañes, and J. M. Cabrera, "Optical damage control via Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio in proton exchanged LiNbO3 waveguides," Opt. Lett. 32, 2294-6 (2007). [CrossRef]
22. A. Méndez, A. García-Cabañes, M. Carrascosa, and J. M. Cabrera, "Photorefractive charge compensation in α-phase proton-exchanged LiNbO3 waveguides," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 17, 1412-9 (2000). [CrossRef]
23. G. de la Paliza, J. Carnicero, A. García-Cabañes, M. Carrascosa, and J. M. Cabrera, "Photorefractive fixing phenomena in α-phase proton-exchanged LiNbO3 waveguides," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 22, 2229-36 (2005). [CrossRef]
24. R. Göring, Z. Yuan-Ling, and S. Steinberg, "Photoconductivity and photovoltaic behaviour of LiNbO3 and LiNbO3 waveguides at high optical intensities," Appl. Phys. A 55, 97-100 (1992). [CrossRef]
25. K. Gallo, M. de Micheli, and P. Baldi, "Parametric fluorescence in periodically poled LiNbO3 buried waveguides," Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, 4492-4 (2002). [CrossRef]
26. S. Bian, J. Frejlich, and K. H. Ringhofer, "Photorefractive saturable Kerr-type nonlinearity in photovoltaic crystals," Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4035-8 (1997). [CrossRef]

Citing Articles

OSA is able to provide readers links to articles that cite this paper by participating in CrossRef's Cited-By Linking service. In addition to listing OSA journal articles that cite this paper, citing articles from other participating publishers will also be listed.

Advanced Search

Recent ToC Categories (Beta)