A novel two-beam method is proposed and applied for the first time, to characterize photorefractive damage (PRI)) in a LiNbO{sub}3 quasiphase-matched (QPM) wavelength converter In the proposed method, irradiation light from a Ti sapphire laser and a broadband probe beam from an erbium-doped fiber amplifier are coupled into a LiNbO{sub}3 QPM waveguide. The PRD effect caused by the irradiation is studied by monitoring the generated second-harmonic light spectrum of the probe light It is shown that PRD in the LiNbO{sub}3 QPM waveguide can be qualitatively characterized by the proposed method, and relevant information relating to the QPM wavelength conversion can be extracted directly.
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