Photorefractive two-beam coupling equations with multiple spatial–temporal features: an SVD approach

Abstract.

We analyze the evolution of multi-feature two-beam coupling, wherein each beam contains several spatial–temporal features (spatial patterns modulated by different signals), using a one-dimensional plane wave model to describe the evolution of paired components. This general scenario is of interest for analyzing signal-processing applications of photorefractives, such as source-separation by orthogonalization of source-modulated spatial patterns. We use singular-value decomposition (SVD) to express each beam as a simple superposition of modes that are both temporally uncorrelated and spatially orthogonal. We find a solution that is a natural matrix generalization of the scalar solution for simple two-beam coupling, and a test for its validity: the two operators that give the spatial overlap associated with the temporal basis signals in the two beams must commute. Equivalently, this means that the same set of signals must be modulating the SVD modes in the two beams. Then the SVD modes are preserved in the two-beam coupling evolution, with only their amplitudes changing.

Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Eckard Krätzig on the occasion of his 60th birthday.