Abstract

Self-pumped phase conjugate mirrors (SPPCMs) have become a key component in an ever increasing array of image processing and interferometric applications. The key issue in all these applications is the relationship between the phase (more precisely the change of phase) of the input beam and that of the output (i.e., the reflected) beam. We report experimental results showing the dependence of phase shifts of conjugate beams from a SPPCM on a spatially uniform phase change of one of the input beams. We find that (a) for a single-beam input to the SPPCM, despite the distortion-correction capability, the SPPCM reflects a conjugate beam with the same uniform phase change as that of the input; (b) for a two-beam input, the relative phase between the two conjugate beams is reversed, as required for wavefront reversal, and the phase shift of each conjugate beam is almost a linear function of the uniform phase change of one of the inputs, while the rate of the change depends on the relative power of the two input beams. Most of these results are consistent with the past observations.^1,2

© 1988 Optical Society of America