Self-enhanced nonvolatile holographic storage in LiNbO3:Fe:Mn crystals

The self-enhancement and self-depletion phenomena originated from the beam-coupling effect are observed during both the recording and fixing phases in LiNbO3:Fe:Mn nonvolatile holographic storage experiments. A numerical simulation and a steady-state analysis are developed to provide a mathematical evaluation to the phenomena. From the experimental and theoretical studies, it is seen that the highest diffraction efficiency available from the self-enhancement may be twice as large as the lowest one from the self-depletion, both during the recording and fixing phases. Therefore, the use of the self-enhancement is necessary for the practical applications. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)02543-2].