HOLOGRAPHIC INTERFEROMETERS WITH PHOTOREFRACTIVE RECORDING MEDIA

We discuss two types of holographic interferometer that contain photor efractive recording media. The first type contains two beams interacti ng in a photorefractive medium. The second type utilizes a single beam and relies on self-pumped phase conjugation from a photorefractive cr ystal to make phase changes appear as intensity changes. We show both theoretically and experimentally that the first type can be analyzed i n a straightforward manner; however, the second type cannot be approxi mated as simply a special case of the first type, as one may naively s uspect. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.