Electrically switched photoinduced waveguide in unpoled strontium barium niobate

Abstract

The unpoled photorefractive strontium barium niobate crystal exhibiting quadratic electro-optic properties is characterized. It is used to form one-dimensional and two-dimensional bright photorefractive spatial solitons for either positive or negative low applied electric field. Solitons induce long-lived index changes in the medium which forms waveguides that can be tuned using an external voltage.