Abstract

The generation of phase conjugated replicas of optical signals has been the subject of many theoretical and experimental studies. Phase conjugation of harmonic signals is a byproduct of certain nonlinear processes such as degenerate four- wave mixing and stimulated Brillouin scattering. Although conjugation of steady signals is well established, the possibility and the effectiveness of conjugating unsteady signals remain largely unexplored. When the envelope of an optical signal varies, new physical phenomena in the conjugation process arise. As previously shown,¹ dispersion in the conjugation process distorts the phase conjugate replica of a pulsed signal. Distortion appears even if the response of the medium to the applied optical signal is instantaneous.

© 1986 Optical Society of America