LIGHT-INDUCED ABSORPTION OF CERIUM-DOPED LEAD BARIUM NIOBATE CRYSTALS

Tetragonal lead barium niobate (Pb1-xBaxNb2O6; 1 - x < 0.63) crystals are promising photorefractive materials for applications such as holog raphic data storage. Measurements of light-induced absorption in Ce-do ped lead barium niobate (Pb0.5Ba0.5Nb2O6) were performed. The induced absorption that was due to the presence of shallow traps was as large as 0.3 cm(-1) at 633 nm and exhibited saturation behavior at green-pum p intensity greater than 2 W/cm(2). The temporal profile of the dark d ecay was a double exponential, and the activation energies of the slow - and the fast-decaying components were determined to be 0.16 and 0.3 eV, respectively. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.