DIFFRACTION EFFICIENCY AND ENERGY-TRANSFER DURING HOLOGRAM FORMATION IN REDUCED KNBO3

Volume phase-hologram formation by the photorefractive effect in KNbO3 is accompanied by a stationary energy transfer between writing beams. The change in energy transfer by applying an electric field on the reduced crystals is shown to be due to an efficient increase in migration length which can reach values comparable or larger than the fringe spacing. It is demonstrated that photovoltaic contribution to the diffraction efficiency and energy transfer is rather small in reduced KNbO3 and that diffusion of photogenerated free holes is the dominant charge transport for the photorefractive effect in unbiased crystals. The experimental results for diffraction efficiency and energy transfer as a function of grating spacing, electric field, light intensity and temperature is well described by a recent theory of Kukhtarev and Vinetskii. © 1979 Springer-Verlag.