Recent Advances in the Photorefraction of Doped Lithium Niobate Crystals

Abstract: The recent advances in the photorefraction of doped lithium niobate crystals are reviewed. Materials have always been the main obstacle for commercial applications of photorefractive holographic storage. Though iron-doped LiNbO₃ is the mainstay of holographic data storage efforts, several shortcomings, especially the low response speed, impede it from becoming a commercial recording medium. This paper reviews the photorefractive characteristics of different dopants, especially tetravalent ions, doped and co-doped LiNbO₃ crystals, including Hf, Zr and Sn monodoped LiNbO₃, Hf and Fe, Zr and Fe doubly doped LiNbO₃, Zr, Fe and Mn, Zr, Cu and Ce triply doped LiNbO₃, Ru doped LiNbO₃, and V and Mo monodoped LiNbO₃. Among them, Zr, Fe and Mn triply doped LiNbO₃ shows excellent nonvolatile holographic storage properties, and V and Mo monodoped LiNbO₃ has fast response and multi-wavelength storage characteristics.