Abstract

Photopolarization, dark and photo-depolarization studies hcve been carried out in detail in the photorefractive Bismuth Silicon Oxide Single Crystal (BSO). The polarization state in the crystal has been induced by the simultaneous application of a DC field and an illumination for a known time. The depolarization current decay characteristics of the polarized crystal have been studied under dark and under re-illumination of the sample. The crystal has been polarized by varying the polarizing field, illumination and time. It has been found that remanent polarization presist in the crystal for a long time after the removal of the poling field and illumination. The persistance of polarization, its magnitude and also the decay mode are very much dependent on the poling conditions. The total charge obtained under different conditions of polarization has been calculated and found to be dependent on poling parameters. These results show that prepolarized BSO crystals can be usefully employed in volume holographic recording, optical memory and electrophotographic image storage.

© 1989 Optical Society of America