Strongly nonlinear optical and fast responding materials are required for real-time optical information processing. KNbO3 has been shown to have very fast photorefractive response times and good photosensitivity. With the electro-chemical reduction method developed recently we were able to improve the photorefractive properties (photoconductivity, beam coupling gain, response time) of KNbO3 by changing the valencies of iron-impurities. The preparation of large monodomain crystals with good optical and photorefractive homogeneity for photorefractive incoherent to coherent optical conversion (PICOC) is described. The image conversion was achieved by the anisotropic self-diffraction technique. The optimal crystal configuration for this application has been experimentally verified. A resolution of up to 10 linepairs per mm has been achieved for converting a white light image onto a laser beam.

Date Published: 31 January 1989
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 1018, Electro-Optic and Magneto-Optic Materials, (31 January 1989); doi: 10.1117/12.949994

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1018:
Electro-Optic and Magneto-Optic Materials
Jean-Pierre Huignard, Editor(s)