APPLICATIONS OF BIREFRINGENT PHASE-MATCHING FOR PHOTOREFRACTIVE DEVICES

The spatial spectrum of angular phase matching for photorefractive dev ices that use orthogonally polarized reading and writing beams may be enhanced if the images are recorded at angles where the ordinary and e xtraordinary cross sections of the index ellipsoid have equal curvatur es. Applications include holographic storage, phased-array radar proce ssors, and achromatic photorefractive devices. We show that for hologr aphic recording in lithium niobate the maximum wavelength separation b etween writing and reading beams is approximately 50 nm for writing at 500 nm. (C) 1995 Optical Society of America