  The optical damage of photorefractive material, single LiNbO3 crystal, is
experimentally studied. The specimen has been illuminated with the radiation of
continuous Ar-laser (the wavelength of 488 nm) focused to 35?m spot. The
induced birefringence map is obtained by means of imaging polarimeter.
Promising resources of the experimental setup for detecting laser-induced
damage in photorefractive materials is demonstrated.
