Real-time phase-contrast analysis of domain switching in lithium niobate by digital holography

We present a method for in-situ visualization of electric field domain reversal in congruent lithium niobate (LN) through an electro-optic interferometric technique. The crystal refractive index n changes by the linear electro-optic and piezoelectric effects along the z crystal axis, due to the external electric field. This variation depends on the domain orientation so that two adjacent antiparallel domains present a refractive index difference equal to 2Dn which is used for in-situ visualization of the reversed domain pattern during formation. A digital holographic (DH) technique is employed for a two-dimensional (2D) reconstruction of the wavefield transmitted by the sample in amplitude and phase during the process. The corresponding amplitude-map and phase-map movies are presented. The amplitude-map gives qualitative information about the spatial evolution of the domain boundaries while the phase-map provides measurement of the 2D distribution of the phase shift induced along the z axis. The phase-map movies provide unequivocal information about the spatial distribution of the reversed domain regions. This technique can be used as in-situ monitoring method alternative to the measurement of the poling current which provides information only about the amount of charge delivered to the sample, ignoring the spatial distribution of the domain boundaries.