Bidirectional vectorial light amplification in cubic crystals with unshifted photorefractive gratings.

We present a new method of light amplification based on vectorial two-wave mixing in cubic crystal via an unshifted photorefractive grating. The energy transfer between interacting waves is achieved in an experimental configuration that provides the amplitudes of modulation of refractive indices of opposite signs, Dn(1)=-Dn(2), for two orthogonal polarization modes of the interacting waves. The configuration demonstrates bidirectional amplification; i.e., the weak wave is always amplified, independent of its direction with respect to the strong pump beam. We present the results of numerical analysis along with the experimental results for a Bi(12)TiO(20) crystal with a dc applied electric field.