Abstract

Asymmetric self-defocusing in barium titanate (BaTiO₃) was first reported by Feinberg.¹ Similar effects have been observed in SBN and other photorefractive materials.² Cronin-Golomb and Yariv have demonstrated the use of this effect as an optical limiter.³ We present measurements of beam fanning in BaTiO₃ at a number of wavelengths using cw lasers and a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser. We observe that the time dependence of fanning is approximately I^−0.5 at the higher intensities of the pulsed laser. The efficiency of the fanning improved, particularly in the pulsed case, as the crystal was cooled to near 10°C.

© 1985 Optical Society of America