Photorefractive properties of iron-doped lithium tantalate crystals

Imbrock J, Baumer C, Hesse H, Kip D, Kratzig E

Zusammenfassung

Iron-doped lithium tantalate crystals are grown by the Czochralski method and their photorefractive properties are examined with holographic methods. Dynamic range, holographic sensitivity, photoconductivity, and dark storage time are measured in dependence on the iron concentration and light intensity. The largest refractive-index change for ordinarily polarized light is 3.5x10(-4), in comparison with 6.2x10(-4) for iron-doped lithium niobate. Due to a small mobility of protons the dark storage time of holograms in lithium tantalate is larger than that in lithium niobate.