Open AccessSurface waves in photorefractive polymer films
Author(s) -
Takashi Fujihara,
Takafumi Sassa,
Tsuyoshi Muto,
Shinsuke Umegaki,
Takehiko Wada
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.17.014150
Subject(s) - optics , materials science , photorefractive effect , surface wave , beam (structure) , polymer , substrate (aquarium) , optoelectronics , physics , composite material , oceanography , geology
We observed the temporal development of surface waves and investigated their power propagation loss in typical photorefractive polymer films sandwiched between ITO glass substrates. We found that amplified scattered waves generated in a pumped region started to develop into surface waves from a point where they reached the substrate through the self-bending effect. The surface waves propagated over a distance of 1.7 mm, thereby confining the power to a region at a distance of 30 microns from the substrate. Considerable propagation power loss of the surface waves was observed at a low pumping power of the beam; however, the power loss decreased considerably when the beam had high power.