The observation of Barkhausen current spikes during the recording of volume phase holograms in potassium lithium tantalate niobate is reported on. These spikes are due to the ferroelectric domain reversal induced by photorefractive space charge fields. Both “small” (1 nA) and “large” (100 nA) spikes are observed, which correspond to micro and macro domain reversal, respectively. The diffraction efficiency can change as much as 50&percent; during a single macrodomain switching. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.