The effect of reduction treatment on the photorefractive properties of Zn:Fe:LiNbO3 crystal

The effect of reduction treatment on the photorefractive properties of Zn:Fe:LiNbO3 crystal was studied experimentally. It was found that, after reduction treatment, the response time of the crystal is shortened, the ability of optical damage resistance is enhanced and the absorption edge is shifted towards the infrared band. Meanwhile, a self-erasing phenomenon was observed for the first time in reduced Zn:Fe:LiNbO3 crystal. The evolution of diffraction efficiency with time going on is non-monotonic, but grows gradually to its maximum and then decays a great extent during the recording process. The mechanism of the electron-hole competition was presented to explain this phenomenon.