Influence of light on the coercive field of repoled strontium barium niobate (SBN); the role of secondary repoling

Abstract

We have found that the application of light to strontium barium niobate (SBN) during electrical repoling stabilises the newly formed domains. This stabilisation becomes apparent when repoling the crystal back into its original domain direction as a change in the distribution of displacement current as a function of voltage. This appears to be the process underlying the other recent work in the area of optical control of domain structures for quasi phase-matching of nonlinear processes. We present an explanation for this effect in terms of the micro-domain structure of SBN. This model should aid in the search for new materials for optical periodic poling