Recent Advances in the Photorefraction of Doped Lithium Niobate Crystals

The recent advances in the photorefraction of doped lithium niobate crystals are reviewed. Materials have always been the main obstacle for commercial applications of photorefractive holographic storage. Though iron-doped LiNbO(3) is the mainstay of holographic data storage efforts, several shortcomings, especially the low response speed, impede it from becoming a commercial recording medium. This paper reviews the photorefractive characteristics of different dopants, especially tetravalent ions, doped and co-doped LiNbO(3) crystals, including Hf, Zr and Sn monodoped LiNbO(3), Hf and Fe, Zr and Fe doubly doped LiNbO(3), Zr, Fe and Mn, Zr, Cu and Ce triply doped LiNbO(3), Ru doped LiNbO(3), and V and Mo monodoped LiNbO(3). Among them, Zr, Fe and Mn triply doped LiNbO(3) shows excellent nonvolatile holographic storage properties, and V and Mo monodoped LiNbO(3) has fast response and multi-wavelength storage characteristics.