Fast photorefractive response and high sensitivity of Zr and Fe codoped LiNbO3 crystals

A series of Zr and Fe codoped LiNbO3 crystals was grown and their photorefractive properties have been investigated. Compared with LiNbO3:Fe,Hf, the concentration of Fe2+ ions is strongly increased in LiNbO3:Fe,Zr. As a result, the photorefractive response speed of these as-grown LiNbO3:Fe,Zr crystals is only 2 s and the sensitivity is larger than 12 cm/J while the saturation diffraction efficiency still remains at a high level. These findings prove that LiNbO3:Fe,Zr is an excellent choice for volume holographic storage. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.