Photorefractive-induced damage effects at 488 nm wavelength inLiNbO3,LiTaO3,andBa1−xSrxTiyNb2−yO6(BSTN) optical waveguides are compared for the extraordinary mode of polarization. The damage effects are strongest inLiNbO3and weakest in BSTN. At an input power density of3000 W/cm2,the output power from passive channel waveguide inLiNbO3is more than 12 dB lower than in BSTN. Optically induced index changes measured using a Fabry–Perot interferometric method show a nonlinear behavior with increasing input intensity for all these materials. For incident power densities greater than200 W/cm2on the waveguides, the optically induced index-change damage increases at a rate of2.8×10−3 cm2/&mgr;WinLiNbO3,4.9×10−4 cm2/&mgr;WinLiTaO3,and3.1×10−4 cm2/&mgr;Win BSTN. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.