Fast photorefractive response in BSO in the near infrared

The polarization self-modulation effect has been applied for the effective measurement of the characteristic response time of nominally pure Bi12SiO20 at wavelengths of 810 ma and 980 nm, Owing to the oxygen deficiency in the crystal lattice, the studied BSO crystals have shown the unusual photorefractive sensitivity and the remarkable operation speed in near infrared spectral region. The response time of 130 ms has been measured at the wavelength of 810 nm and the response time of 540 ms at 8 = 980 nm viith the incident intensities of 110 mW/cm(2) and 200 mW/cm(2), respectively. To our knowledge this is the first experimental evidence of subsecond response in the infrared for the non-semiconductor photorefractive material.