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Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Phase-Contrast Mirror Based on Four-Wave Mixing

G. Grynberg, A. Petrossian, M. Pinard, Marc Vallet

Published Jan 14, 1992• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate that some mirrors using four-wave mixing processes can transform phase variations of the incident beam into amplitude variations of the reflected beam. The property of these mirrors arises from the interference between phase-conjugate and distributed feedback emissions. We present the results of experiments done with a rubidium cell and show how wave front deformations may be studied by such a mirror.

DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/17/3/005

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We demonstrate that some mirrors using four-wave mixing processes can transform phase variations of the incident beam into amplitude variations of the reflected beam. The property of these mirrors arises from the interference between phase-conjugate and distributed feedback emissions. We present the results of experiments done with a rubidium cell and show how wave front deformations may be studied by such a mirror.
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Phase conjugation is an nonlinear effect that results from the four-wave-mixing process. This peculiar effect, in analogy to a mirror, reflects an incident beam in a way that the reflection constitutes the time-reversal of the original beam. By combining the phase conjugate mirror with ordinary mirrors, a special resonator, called phase conjugate resonator (PCR), is constructed. The phase conjugate resonator has been used in a wide range of applications, including phase aberration correction, image transmission, holography, and phase sensing using interferometers. Here, we explore theoretically the properties of phase conjugate mirror by investigating its action upon a variety of quantum states. In addition, we analyze the input-output relations of a phase conjugate resonator. Experimental results are reported that faithfully verify PCR's enhanced stability as compared to normal resonators. Furthermore, we observe a linewidth narrowing effect that is only present in the phase conjugate resonator.
We have repeated the classic experiment of Wiener,1 which established the nature of the standing-wave pattern produced by reflection at the surface of a metallic mirror, with the metallic mirror used in his experiment replaced by a phase-conjugate mirror. We find that the positions of the fringes produced by interference between the wave incident on the phase-conjugate mirror and the wave leaving the mirror depends on the phase of the incident wave. This result is in contrast to that obtained through the use of a metallic mirror, in which case the interference pattern is found to be independent of the phase of the incident wave. The origin of the different behavior in these two cases lies in the fact that the phases of the waves that pump the PCM provide a reference through which phase information carried by the signal wave can be obtained. The experimental results are in excellent quantitative agreement with recent theoretical predictions.2
A passive phase conjugate mirror based on four-wave mixing in an optical ring cavity is described. Unlike previously demonstrated passive phase conjugate mirrors it generates only one of its pumping beams by nonlinear optical interactions, the other being provided by feedback of the probe after transmission through the nonlinear medium. The results of a theory yielding phase conjugate reflectivity and oscillation thresholds are presented together with an experimental demonstration of phase conjugation in barium titanate and strontium barium niobate. The device is self-starting by four-wave mixing, and has an oscillation threshold lower than that of other previously demonstrated passive phase conjugate mirrors with similar ease of alignment. The operation of a device which generates nonconjugate oscillation beams is also reported.
We describe an all-optical method to transform a weak incident optical beam with constant amplitude and pulsated phase jumps into an amplified optical beam with amplitude modulation. The proposed method uses either the reflected or the transmitted beams by a phase-conjugate mirror. Our analysis assumes that the operation of optical phase conjugation is due to nearly degenerate four-wave mixing where two monochromatic pump fields are mixed in a Kerr-like material with the incident field, producing a transmitted field and a "phase-conjugate" reflected field. Numerical results show that the depth of amplitude modulation decreases with the gain of the phase-conjugate mirror, while the duration of the amplitude pulses increases along with that gain. An original configuration with a single output beam is proposed. The equivalence of the device with coherent detection schemes is discussed.