Dielectric electrooptic gratings in potassium lithium tantalate niobate

Volume phase gratings have been fabricated by controlled generation of periodic striations during the growth of copper doped potassium lithium tantalate niobate crystals. Gratings with periods ranging from below 1 to 5 μm were fabricated. It is shown that the fabricated composition grating induces a refractive index grating which is a superposition of a fixed grating and an electrically controlled (electrooptic) grating. The electrooptic grating is produced due to the generation of a spatial modulation of the Curie temperature which is manifested as a correlated modulation of the static dielectric constant. It was also observed that when operated at the immediate vicinity of the phase transition temperature the diffraction efficiency from these gratings was bi-stable at a specific electric field due to an induced shift of the Curie temperature.