CHAPTER 5

ANISOTROPIC DIFFRACTION

Some crystals exhibit anisotropic diffraction, that is, the polarization of the incident
and the diffracted light have different directions. This is the case, among others, of
sillenite-type crystals, and this feature derives from the structure of their electro-
optic tensor. In fact, let us recall the expressions for the index of refraction along
axes
, Z; and y in Section 1.3.1, which we now designate, in a more conventional
way, as x; y, and z, respectively.
1
nx ¼ n0 þ n30 r41 E
2
1
ny ¼ n0  n30 r41 E
2
nz ¼ n0

5.1 COUPLED WAVE WITH ANISOTROPIC DIFFRACTION

Let us now analyze the expression of the coupled wave equations for a pure phase
grating in Equations (4.52) and (4.53), where the coupling constant k, as formulated
in Equation (4.81), should be now written in tensorial form as
2 3
1 0 0
n30 r41 pE 4
^¼
k 0 1 0 5 ð5:1Þ
2l
0 0 0

Photorefractive Materials: Fundamental Concepts, Holographic Recording and Materials

Characterization, By Jaime Frejlich
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

125
126 ANISOTROPIC DIFFRACTION

In this case coupled Equations (4.52) and (4.53), neglecting absorption (a ¼ 0) and
simplifying to jmj ¼ 1, look like:

@~RðzÞ
cos y k~
¼ i^ S ð5:2Þ
@z
@ S~ ðzÞ
cos y ¼ i^k~R ð5:3Þ
@z

If we define ~
r and~s as the unit vectors indicating the polarization direction of ~
R and
~
S, respectively, we should write Equations (5.2) and (5.3) as:

@R
cos y ¼ ið~
rk^~
sÞS ð5:4Þ
@z
@S
cos y ¼ ið~sk rÞR
^~ ð5:5Þ
@z

where

2 32 32 3
cos g 1 0 0 cos a
n30 r41 pE 4
rk
~ ^~s¼ sin g 5:4 0 1 0 54 sin a 5 ð5:6Þ
2l
0 0 0 0 0

with~sðcos a; sin a; 0Þ and~

rðcos g; sin g; 0Þ This means that the value (modulus) of the
effective coupling constant

n30 r41 pE n3 r41 pE

rk
~ s¼
^~ ðcos g cos a  sin g sin aÞ ¼ 0 cosðg þ aÞ ð5:7Þ
2l 2l

is maximum for:

cosðg þ aÞ ¼ 1
n30 r41 pE
½~
rk
^~s
max ¼ k ¼ for a ¼ g ð5:8Þ
2l

The diffracted light, with a polarization direction verifying the conditions above, is
optimized and will develop over all other possibilities. Equation (5.8) means that the
polarization directions of the incident and the diffracted beams are symmetric
relative to the coordinate axis (x or y) in the crystal incidence plane as illustrated in
Figure 5.1. Note that in the case of a sillenite-type crystal with an electric field
applied as illustrated in Figure 1.8, the principal coordinate axes of the index
ellipsoid are 45 -rotated as illustrated in Figure 1.9, so that in this case the actual
picture stands as represented in Figure 5.2, which is 45 -rotated to that of Figure 5.1,
 ANISOTROPIC DIFFRACTION AND OPTICAL ACTIVITY 127

R(z) S(z)
y
^ ^
r s

α x
γ
α =–γ

Figure 5.1. Input and output light polarization.

S(z)
^
s x
y α
γ

R(z) α = –γ
^
r

Figure 5.2. Input and output polarization referred to actual principal axes coordinates.

but does not change the fact that the output polarization directions of the incident
and diffracted beams are simetric along (the new) axes x and y.

Exercise: Repeat the above procedure for lithium niobate (see Section 1.3.2) and
verify that there is no anisotropic diffraction for this material.

5.2 ANISOTROPIC DIFFRACTION AND OPTICAL ACTIVITY

A possible solution for coupled Equations (5.4) and (5.5) is

RðzÞ ¼ R0 cosðkzÞ þ iS0 eif sinðkzÞ ð5:9Þ

if
SðzÞ ¼ iR0 sinðkzÞ þ S0 e cosðkzÞ ð5:10Þ

Assuming kz  1, the components polarized along g and a ¼ g are, respectively,

Rg ðzÞ ¼ R0 cosðkzÞ Sg ðzÞ ¼ S0 eif cosðkzÞ ð5:11Þ

if
Rg ðzÞ ¼ iS0 e sinðkzÞ Sg ¼ iR0 sinðkzÞ ð5:12Þ
128 ANISOTROPIC DIFFRACTION

5.2.1 Diffraction Efficiency with Optical Activity q

From Equations (5.11) and (5.12) we can write

dSg ¼ iRg kdz ð5:13Þ

Rg ¼ R0 cosðkzÞ ð5:14Þ

with the x and y components at the crystal output z ¼ d being

dSg
x ¼ iR0 k cosðkzÞ cos½g þ rðd  zÞ
dz ð5:15Þ

dSg
y ¼ iR0 k cosðkzÞ sin½g þ rðd  zÞ
dz ð5:16Þ

ð5:17Þ

After factoring the trigonometric functions above and integrating we get

 
iR0 k sinðkz þ 2rz þ g0  rdÞ sinðkz  2rz  g0 þ rdÞ z¼d
SðzÞg
x ¼ þ ð5:18Þ
2 k þ 2r k  2r z¼0
 
iR0 k cosðrd  g0  kz  2rzÞ cosðrd  g0 þ kz  2rzÞ z¼d
SðzÞg
y ¼ þ ð5:19Þ
2 k þ 2r k  2r z¼0

g ¼ g0 þ rz g0 ¼ gð0Þ ð5:20Þ

Assuming k  2r we have

iR0 k sinðkd þ rd þ g0 Þ  sinðg0  rdÞ  sinðkd  2rd  g0 Þ

SðdÞg
x ¼ ð5:21Þ
2 2r
iR0 k cosðkd þ rd þ g0 Þ  cosðrd  g0 Þ þ cosðg0 þ rd  kdÞ
SðdÞg
y ¼ ð5:22Þ
2 2r

that can be written as

iR0 k 2 cosðkdÞ sinðrd þ g0 Þ þ 2 sinðrd  g0 Þ

SðdÞg
x ¼ ð5:23Þ
2 2r
 iR0 k 2 cosðkdÞ cosðrd þ g0 Þ  2 cosðrd  g0 Þ
SðdÞg y ¼ ð5:24Þ
2 2r
 ANISOTROPIC DIFFRACTION AND OPTICAL ACTIVITY 129

[001] d
70°
d
70° t
t

ρd = 20°
[010]

t
[110]

t [100]

Figure 5.3. General illustration of the polarization direction of the transmitted and diffracted
beams through a crystal with optical activity and anisotropic diffraction. At mid-crystal
thickness the polarization directions of the transmitted and diffracted beams are 10 shifted
from the [110] and [001] axes respectively.

where
 R2 k 2
ISdiff ¼ jSðdÞg
x j2 þ jSðdÞg y j2 ¼ 0 2 ½sinðrdÞ
2 ð5:25Þ
r
 
I diff sinðrdÞ 2
Z ¼ S 2 ðkdÞ2 ð5:26Þ
jR0 j rd

[001]
d 90°
d
90° t
t
ρd = 20°

[010]

t
[110]

[100]

Figure 5.4. Transmitted and diffracted beams orthogonally polarized at the output
through a crystal with optical activity and anisotropic diffraction. Assuming rd ¼ 20 ,
the incident beam’s polarization direction at the input plane should be 10 referred to
the [110]-axis.
130 ANISOTROPIC DIFFRACTION

[001]
d
d t

ρd=20° t

[010]
t
[110]

[100]

Figure 5.5. Transmitted and diffracted beams parallel-polarized at the output through a
crystal with optical activity and anisotropic diffraction. Assuming rd ¼ 20 , the
incident beam’s polarization direction at the input plane should be 35  referred to the
[110]-axis.

5.2.2 Output Polarization Direction

In Section 5.2.1 it was stated that g0 is the angle of the polarization direction of
wave ~RðzÞ at the input. Let as then assume as to be the corresponding angle (see
Fig. 5.2) for ~
SðzÞ at the output. From Equation (5.23) and Equation (5.24) we
may compute as as follows
SðdÞg
y
tan as ¼ ¼  tan g0 ð5:27Þ
SðdÞg
x

always for kd  1. Figures 5.3 to 5.5 illustrate some typical results for a crystal with
rd ¼ 20 and interfering beams with same input polarization direction.