BRAGG-MATCHED PHOTOREFRACTIVE TWO-BEAM COUPLING IN ORGANIC–INORGANIC HYBRIDS

This review article presents the concept of photorefractive beam coupling in hybrid photorefractive cells comprising a liquid crystal layer adjacent to inorganic photorefractive windows. The roles of the liquid crystal layer and the photorefractive windows, as well as the overall advantages of this architecture, are explained. The mechanism involved and the required window parameters to break the local alignment symmetry in order to achieve Bragg-matched two-beam coupling in a liquid crystal layer are discussed.