External electric field induced modulation instability of an electromagnetic beam in two-photon photorefractive materials

The modulation instability of a broad electromagnetic beam in a biased two-photon photovoltaic photorefractive material, due to two-photon-photorefractive effect has been investigated. The one-dimensional modulation instability growth rate has been estimated under the linear stability framework. The behavior of the gain spectrum is different in low and high power regions. It has been predicted that, with the application of external electric field, it is possible to initiate and control growth of the instability in those media, where modulation instability was hitherto prohibited. The influence of different system parameters on the instability growth rate has been examined. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.