Abstract

To remove aberrations induced by a neodymium:glass amplifier, a phase conjugate mirror, double-pass system was developed and tested at 1.06 μm. A yttrium aluminum garnet laser with a 7-ns pulse width and 200-mJ pulse energy passed through the amplifier, and was focused into a stimulated Brillouin scattering cell containing carbon disulfide; it reflected and removed the amplifier distortions as it retraversed the amplifier. The beam was outcoupled using a polarizing beam splitter and had the same near-field structure as the input, unamplified beam. The far-field beam quality degradations due to the amplifier and an etched glass phase plate were examined. The influence of the focal length of the Brillouin lens, the position of the Brillouin cell, and the input energy on stimulated Brillouin reflectivity and beam quality were also examined.

© 1985 Optical Society of America