Abstract

We explore dynamic media, such as plasmas and photorefractive materials, as generators of phase conjugated replicas of transient optical signals via four-wave mixing. The characterizing element of dynamic media is a population of free charge carriers that leads to induced charge density gratings on probe illumination. In steady-state conditions, phase conjugation in such media normally appears with smaller pump intensities than are required in Kerr media but at the expense of potentially slow response times.¹

© 1987 Optical Society of America