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Wave propagation in birefringent materials with off-axis absorption or gain

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Author

Summary, in English

The polarization direction of an electromagnetic field changes and eventually reaches a steady state when propagating through a birefringent material with off-axis absorption or gain. The steady state orientation direction depends on the magnitude of the absorption (gain) and the phase retardation rate. The change in the polarization direction is experimentally demonstrated in weakly doped (0.05%) Pr3+ : Y2SiO5 crystals, where the light polarization, if initially aligned along the most strongly absorbing principal axis, gradually switches to a much less absorbing polarization state during the propagation. This means that the absorption coefficient a in birefringent materials generally varies with length. This is important for, e.g., laser crystal gain media, highly absorbing and narrow band spectral filters and quantum memories.

Publishing year

2016

Language

English

Publication/Series

Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)

Volume

93

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Physical Society

Topic

  • Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1050-2947