Abstract

Lifetimes of two-color nonvolatile holograms recorded in undoped or in slightly doped near-stoichiometric lithium niobate and tantalate crystals were measured and compared by extrapolation of the high-temperature data. A proton-compensation mechanism dominated the dark decay and yielded similar activation energies, of 1.05 and 1.10 eV, for near-stoichiometric lithium niobate and tantalate crystals, respectively. The lifetime of holograms in lithium tantalate was 1 order of magnitude longer than that in lithium niobate with the same proton concentration, which was consistent with our theoretical estimation. The projected lifetime of two-color holograms in lithium tantalate without observable OH^- absorption is longer than 50 years.

© 2004 Optical Society of America

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