Persistent holograms are recorded with red light in lithium niobate crystal
s doped with manganese and iron. Different erasure mechanisms are investiga
ted, and a recording schedule for multiplexing holograms with equal diffrac
tion efficiencies is proposed. To test the recording schedule experimentall
y, we multiplex 50 plane-wave holograms with the proposed recording schedul
e. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 090.0090, 210.2860, 090.
2910.