TWO-WAVE COUPLING IN PHOTOREFRACTIVE TRANSITION METAL DOPED POTASSIUM SODIUM BARIUM STRONTIUM NIOBATE CRYSTALS

Large values of the exponential gain coefficient are obtained (\varGamma= 8-20cm^-1) in photorefractive potassium sodium barium strontium niobate crystals doped with transition metal elements: Co, Gu, Fe, Cr and Ni by using two-wave coupling experiments with argon ion laser (\lambda = 488nm). The response time is measured to be 60-1000ms at an intensity of 5W/cm² for various samples. We find that in all the crystals electrons are the dominant photorefractive charge carriers, and the typical density of carriers is 10¹⁶-10¹⁷ cm^-3.