Observation and thermal fixing of holographic gratings in lead barium niobate crystal.

We report what we believe to be the first observation of photorefractive gratings in lead barium niobate (Pb(1-x)Ba (x)Nb(2)O>( 6) ; PBN). A diffraction efficiency of 9% and a beam-coupling coefficient of 9 cm(-1) are obtained. After thermal fixing a grating of 0.5% is revealed at room temperature. We can improve this diffraction efficiency by optimizing fixing temperature, timing, and material parameters.