Observation of misalignment of the subharmonic grating in photorefractive Bi12SiO20

Abstract

Subharmonic generation in photorefractive crystals has experienced an increasing interest since the discovery of this effect by Mallick et al.1 Further experimental results2,3 and theoretical models4,5 have all contributed to the understanding of this rather peculiar phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to present new experimental results showing a rather surprising behavior of the subharmonic grating.