Reconfigurable One and Two Dimensional Waveguides in Strontium Barium Niobate Induced by Lateral Illumination

Photoinduced waveguides are generated by lateral illumination of photorefractive strontium barium niobate. The light-induced waveguides show a complex dynamic relaxation upon removal of the sustaining voltage, which can be exploited for deflecting or modulating the guided wave. The deflection distance easily exceeds 100 μm in a 1 cm long crystal. The observed dynamics agrees with the predictions of numerical calculations of the beam propagation under the appropriate relaxation of the refractive index distribution. We also present a novel method to confine in the second transverse direction the otherwise intrinsically one-dimensional photoinduced waveguides. Dynamic channel waveguides in the bulk of the material are demonstrated in this way.