Dynamics of novelty filtering and edge enhancement in cobalt-doped barium titanate

A compact photorefractive optical novelty filter is presented. Its two main components, the nonlinear photorefractive crystal and the spatial light modulator, are characterized. It is shown that, for this application, the involved BaTiO3:Co crystal is more efficient than a nominally undoped BaTiO3. It is demonstrated that the spatial light modulator alters the wave-mixing performance. The cut frequency of a cyclic event detection is measured versus the incident intensity. The agreement with previously developed theories about edge-enhancement characteristics is satisfactory. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.