Photorefractive properties of Ru doped lithium niobate crystal

Abstract We investigated the photorefractive properties of ruthenium (Ru) doped LiNbO3 crystal, grown by the Czochralski method using a 532 nm solid-state laser. An examination of the blue light-induced absorption change showed a peak around 530 nm which corresponds to that of the commonly used nonlinear 532 nm solid-state laser. The dark decay time constant of the Ru:LiNbO3 decreased as the temperature increased, from which it can be deduced that in lithium niobate, the energy level is shallower at the Ru center than that at the Fe center. The erasing time constant of the Ru:LiNbO3 crystal was short and decreased with the erasing beam intensity. Furthermore, given in these experimental conditions, the sensitivity and dynamic range of the 0.01 mol% Ru:LiNbO3 crystal were 0.0234 cm/J and 0.75.