Field-induced enhancement of voltage-controlled diffractive properties in paraelectric iron and manganese co-doped potassium–tantalate–niobate crystal

High voltage-controlled diffraction efficiency of 78.3% was obtained in paraelectric potassium-tantalate-niobate crystal co-doped with iron and manganese. It was found that the recording time required to achieve maximum diffraction efficiency can be significantly reduced through the application of an external electric field on the crystal during writing. More importantly, the maximum diffraction efficiency maintained a considerably high value under a low external field at different writing angles. The external-field-enhanced space-charge fields were also calculated to interpret the important role of the enhancement effect. The results show that employing an enhanced electric field is of great significance for electroholography device applications. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.