Abstract

Most laser applications require very good beam quality. Many components in lasers and laser systems can degrade the laser quality below what is acceptable. Optical phase conjugation is one method in which a highly aberrated optical beam can be restored to near diffraction limited quality. Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is a nonlinear process which can produce a phase conjugated optical wave. Simple SBS phase conjugators typically cannot correct for polarization distortions. Polarization restoration has been accomplished by phase locking orthogonal polarizations together in an SBS cell^1,2,3,4. We have designed and tested a new method of polarization restoration which is easy to implement and can passively alter the phase or polarization of the return beam for output coupling.

© 1996 Optical Society of America