Domain kinetics in the formation of a periodic domain structure in lithium niobate

Abstract

The evolution of the domain structure in LiNbO3 with polarization switching in an electric field is investigated experimentally. Special attention is given to the formation processes of a regular domain applicable to nonlinear optical devices. A new method based on the spontaneous backswitching effect is proposed for creating a regular structure with a period of 2.6 µm in LiNbO3 with a thickness of 0.5 mm.