Abstract
Ferroelectric crystals are common elements in optical processing systems. Several ferroelectric crystals, such as lithium niobate, potassium tantalate niobate, lithium tantalate, and barium titanate, are photorefractive. Barium titanate has an unusually large nonlinear optic coefficient which has been effectively used to attain large nonlinear gain in two- and four-wave mixing configurations.1 The direction of nonlinear optical gain in a ferroelectric crystal is the same as the direction of its optical axis. A property of ferroelectrics is that the direction of their optical axes can be repeatedly reversed by an externally applied electric field. We have used the reversibility of the optical axes to switch the optical power between two coupled beams.
© 1986 Optical Society of America
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