Abstract

The threshold for self-pumped optical phase conjugation by means of backward stimulated photorefractive scattering has been dramatically lowered by inserting a retroreflecting screen into the path of the beam after the beam leaves a BaTiO₃ crystal. Stable reflectivities of as much as −60% and good phase-conjugate fidelity have been demonstrated in a crystal that has too low a gain–length product to exhibit unseeded backward stimulated scattering. Precise control of the threshold for stimulated scattering is demonstrated by adjusting the seed intensity. Reflectivity and fidelity are experimentally characterized at 515 nm as a function of the following parameters: pump and seed intensities, crystal angle with respect to the incident beam direction, crystal interaction length, crystal–lens separation, and aberration strength. Operation at 633, 730–800, and 839 nm is demonstrated also.

© 1992 Optical Society of America

Evolution of phase-conjugate waves in stimulated photorefractive backscattering

George C. Valley
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9(8) 1440-1448 (1992)

Self-bending of light beams in photorefractive phase conjugators

V. V. Eliseev, A. A. Zozulya, G. D. Bacher, and Jack Feinberg
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Seeding and grating phase in mutually pumped phase conjugators

William R. Christian, Ragini Saxena, and Ian McMichael
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9(1) 108-113 (1992)

Frequency locking in the photorefractive phase-conjugate ring oscillator

R. Saxena, M. J. Rosker, and I. McMichael
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9(9) 1735-1743 (1992)

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Michael Lefebvre, Shirley Pfeifer, and Roosevelt Johnson
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 9(1) 121-131 (1992)