Abstract

We predict and investigate ultrafast optical phase conjugation generated by the spatiospectral mixing of two picosecond light pulses in the active area of a broad-area laser. The microscopic internal processes linked to these phenomena are described on the basis of multiwave Maxwell–Bloch equations and include, in particular, the dynamic interactions of the counterpropagating light fields self-consistently with the dynamics of the active nonlinear charge-carrier plasma within the laser amplifier. Microscopic simulations demonstrate the spatiotemporal dynamics of the fields and reveal the underlying physical processes of the ultrafast refractive-index grating formation: dynamic spatiospectral hole burning, carrier heating, and coupled diffraction and interference of the light beams by means of the nonlinear induced changes in the spatiospectral carrier and refractive-index distribution.

© 2001 Optical Society of America

Pulse trapping and nonequilibrium spatiotemporal wave mixing in broad-area semiconductor lasers

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 15(12) 2861-2867 (1998)

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