Dynamic behaviour of self-diffraction in bacteriorhodopsin film

We investigate the dependences of the diffraction efficiency of the first order self-diffracted beam in bacteriorhodopsin (bR) films on the illumination time, the intensity and wavelength of the incident light. When the blue light (λ = 488 nm) and low intensity red light (λ = 632.8 nm) are incident on the bR film respectively, the diffraction efficiencies increase from zero to a stable value with the illumination time. When the green light (λ = 533 nm) and high-intensity red light illuminate the bR film respectively, the diffraction efficiencies increase from zero to the maximum and then decrease to a stable value with the illumination time. Rise and decay times are dependent on the intensity and wavelength of the incident light. The maximal diffraction efficiency of the red light is twice as high as that of the green light. The highest diffraction efficiency of 5.4% is obtained at 633 nm. The diffraction efficiency change with the time for the green light is larger than that for the blue and red light.