Measurement of laser-induced refractive index change of inverted ferroelectric domain LiNbO_3

• DOI: 10.1364/ao.46.007693
• Publication Date: 2007-11-01T11:37:28Z
• Authors: Yunlin Chen; S. W. Liu; Dongdong Wang; Tianlin Chen; Min Xiao
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

Optical nonlinearities of periodically poled LiNbO(3) crystals were investigated by the single beam Z-scan technique with a continuous wave (cw) laser beam at 532 nm. The nonlinear optical absorption coefficient and refractive index change are determined to be 8.1 x 10(-6) cm/W and 2.6 x 10(-4) at 0.5 MW/cm(2) light intensity, respectively. Both sign and magnitude of the measured refractive nonlinearity are considerably different from the Z-scan results in congruent LiNbO(3). The nonlinearities in the periodically poled LiNbO(3) induced by 532 nm continuous waves are believed to be mainly due to the photorefractive effect.