Infrared sensitive liquid crystal photorefractive hybrid cell with semiconductor substrates

Refractive index grating recording is achieved in the infrared in a nematic liquid crystal placed between semiconductor CdTe substrates. Light-induced space-charge field created in photorefractive semiconductor substrates varies an alignment of liquid crystal molecules inhomogeneously in space forming a spatial modulation of the refractive index in liquid crystal. Two-beam coupling is studied in the hybrid cell, in which a gain factor Γ =16 cm −1 is achieved in the layer of liquid crystal of the sandwich.