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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Optical bistability by two-wave mixing in photorefractive crystals

Edward D. Baraban, Hong-Zhun Zhang, Robert W. Boyd

Published Sep 1, 1992• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical bistability in photorefractive strontium barium niobate in a two-wave mixing configuration with feedback is reported. We observe bistability both under conditions for which its existence was recently predicted by Zozulya et al. [ Opt. Commun.72, 381 ( 1989)] and under more general conditions.
DOI
10.1364/josab.9.001689

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Optical bistability has been observed in a new configuration consisting of a nematic liquid crystal (ROTN 403) and a photorefractive crystal (KNbO3). The nematic liquid crystal (NLC), placed between crossed polarizers, serves as an optically controlled gate. The transmitted signal beam is amplified by photorefractive two-wave mixing and sent back onto the NLC in such a way that it changes the transmission of the gate. Bistability of the optical signal in the feedback loop with a large hysteresis is found. The bistable hysteresis curve depends on the nonlinearities of the NLC and of the photorefractive crystal, on the intensity of the storage beam and on the losses in the feedback loop.