Electro-optic control of optical beams by rearrangement of the ferroelectric domain structure

Abstract

The light passing through a ferroelectric crystal tends to split into several separate beams due to refraction and reflection at the domain walls. The corresponding intensities are known to depend on the electric field applied to the crystal. We propose a simple model taking into account multiple refractions and rearrangement of the domain structure with no assumptions on the specific material properties. The obtained coupling between intensity of the deflected light and the relative macroscopic ferroelectric polarization is in good agreement with known experimental data.