Optical hysteresis and bistability in the wave-front conjugation by electrooptic crystals

Analitical and numerical investigation of the wave-front conjugation in electrooptic crystals (LiNbO3, BaTiO3, SBN) show that noncavity optical bistability and hysteresis /1,2/ depends on the dominant mechanism of nonlinear responce (diffusion or drift) as on the orientation of the crystal C axis, and is strongly influensed by absorption or gain. Calculation show that critical effects may be observed for crystal length 0.1 cm (SBN, BaTiO3) and 1.5 cm (LiNbO3) for the optimal experimental geometry.