Abstract

We propose a powerful method to numerically solve the propagation of light in a photorefractive medium in the presence of both applied field and photogalvanic nonlinearity. This time-dependent full three-dimensional model is successfully applied to explain large self-bending of a solitonlike beam observed in biased undoped lithium niobate crystals. It reveals that charge saturation is at the origin of beam bending. The numerical results give deep insight of the formation dynamics in agreement with experiments and depict the trajectory of the induced waveguide inside the crystal.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

Polarization and configuration dependence of beam self-focusing in photorefractive LiNbO₃

J. Safioui, M. Chauvet, F. Devaux, V. Coda, F. Pettazzi, M. Alonzo, and E. Fazio
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 26(3) 487-492 (2009)

Beam self-trapping and self-bending dynamics in a strontium barium niobate crystal

K. Pismennaya, O. Kashin, V. Matusevich, A. Kiessling, and R. Kowarschik
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 25(2) 136-139 (2008)

Dynamics of second-harmonic generation in a photovoltaic photorefractive quadratic medium

Federico Pettazzi, Virginie Coda, Gil Fanjoux, Mathieu Chauvet, and Eugenio Fazio
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27(1) 1-9 (2010)

Three-dimensional optical beam propagation and solitons in photorefractive crystals

Bruno Crosignani, Paolo Di Porto, Antonio Degasperis, Mordechai Segev, and Stefano Trillo
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 14(11) 3078-3090 (1997)

Anisotropic interaction of three-dimensional spatial screening solitons

A. Stepken, F. Kaiser, and M. R. Belić
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 17(1) 68-77 (2000)