Coupled-Wave Analysis of Holographic Storage in LiNbO3

Abstract

This paper considers two effects for directly studying thick-phase holograms: (a) coupling between the two laser beams used to record a hologram and (b) interference between a readout beam and the diffracted beam within the hologram. Both effects were observed in experiments using single crystals of undoped LiNbO3. The results demonstrate that the holograms arise from electric field patterns caused by either diffusion or drift of photogenerated free electrons.