Conversion of unpolarized light to polarized light with greater than 50% efficiency by photorefractive two-beam coupling

All known polarizers operate through a separation of orthogonal electric fi eld components, one of which is subsequently discarded. As a result, 50% of the unpolarized incident light is wasted in the process of conversion to p olarized light. We demonstrate a new method by which we use the optical pow er in the ordinarily discarded component as the pump to amplify the retaine d component through photorefractive two-beam coupling to achieve greater th an 50% throughput. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 190.5530 , 260.5430, 190.4360, 160.5320, 160.4330, 190.0190.