The TEA CO2 laser radiation was used to study aspects of the four-wave mixing (4WM) processes in gases, organic solvents (toluene) and semiconductors like InSb and InAs.
Frequency domain laser spectroscopy has been most often used to provide information on the internal Hamiltonian of the resonant system. In recent work, however, we have shown that by analysis of frequency domain four-wave mixing (FWM) line shapes, it is possible to obtain relaxation rates which reflect how the resonant system interacts with its environment. In addition, these experiments are performed with low-intensity cw lasers and give experimental information quite distinct from information obtained with high-intensity pulsed lasers.
An investigation was made determining the parameters affecting the phase conjugate reflectivity in a four-wave mixing scheme using a pulsed TEA CO2 laser and gaseous sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as the nonlinear medium. With a low energy CO2 laser (60 mJ pulse energy) an optimum energy reflectivity of 20 % was achieved at a pump-probe angle of 30 mrad, a SF6 pressure of 50 hPa at the lOiim P(1O) laser transition for exactly aligned counterpropagating pump waves. In addition, the reflectivity showed a substructure when enlarging the angular mismatch between the pump waves. A simulation of the phase conjugate intensity distribution was carried out solving the Kirchhoff- Fresnel integral equation.