Single beam one-way imaging through a thick dynamic turbulent medium

A new method to record an image through a thick dynamic phase distorting medium by using a photorefractive LiNbO3 crystal is demonstrated. The method uses only one beam of light, the object light. By making use of the photorefractive fanning effect, gratings are formed in the LiNbO3 crystal through the interference between the object light and its own fanning light. Because the time scale of the distorting fluctuation is much shorter than the writing time of the LiNbO3 crystal, the fluctuated light does not induce any fanning. Therefore only the static portion of the image is recorded in the crystal, and the intensity distribution of the image can then be reconstructed at any later time.