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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Phase conjugation by saturable-gain degenerate four-wave mixing in solid state laser media

A. Brignon, Jean‐Pierre Huignard, Henri J. Rajbenbach

Published Apr 11, 1996• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a method to achieve phase conjugation based on saturable-gain degenerate four- wave mixing in the laser medium itself. Experimental and theoretical investigations show that phase conjugate reflectivities and efficiencies higher than 100% can be achieved with such an interaction. High conjugate-reflectivity at (lambda) equals 1.06 micrometers is demonstrated in conventional flash-pumped Nd:YAG amplifiers and in compact diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 amplifiers.

DOI
10.1117/12.238046

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Optics Letters•Oct 15, 1995•23 citations
We present a method to achieve phase conjugation based on saturable-gain degenerate four- wave mixing in the laser medium itself. Experimental and theoretical investigations show that phase conjugate reflectivities and efficiencies higher than 100% can be achieved with such an interaction. High conjugate-reflectivity at (lambda) equals 1.06 micrometers is demonstrated in conventional flash-pumped Nd:YAG amplifiers and in compact diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 amplifiers.
A transient model of degenerate four-wave mixing in saturable amplifiers is developed for calculation of the phase-conjugate reflectivity in the weak-probe-beam limit. Our model takes into account the laser amplification of all the interacting beams together with the wave-mixing process between the two counterpropagating pump waves. Experimental investigations are made in a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG amplifier with nanosecond pulses at 1.06 microm. A reflectivity of 22% is achieved when all the waves interfere within the laser medium.
Phase distortion correction of an optical wave propagating in laser media is a crucial problem to be taken into account in most of laser systems. For this purpose, phase conjugation through stimulated Brillouin scattering using the master oscillator-power amplification configuration has shown a very good potential to obtain high beam quality in solid-state lasers that operate at variable repetition rates. Another attractive alternative to generate the phase-conjugate wavefronts is to use a four-wave mixing (DFWM) process in the laser amplifier. In this medium, the interference between the interacting beams leads to a spatial modulation of the complex susceptibility of the medium by gain saturation (amplitude gain grating). This all-solid-state solution presents the advantage of suppressing the external nonlinear medium and would realize the required functions in the laser medium itself. Moreover, due to the amplification experienced by all the interacting beams, associated to the resonant nonlinearity of the gain saturation, high reflectivities already have been achieved in Nd:YAG amplifiers using a multipass geometry.1,2
Degenerate four-wave mixing in the saturable gain of a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG amplifier has been investigated. Three different geometries are examined in which the probe beam experiences (a) one pass, (b) two passes, and (c) four passes of the four-wave interaction region. It is found that multipassing the gain medium has a dramatic effect on the efficiency of the process, with a phase-conjugate reflectivity of 2500 and a conjugate energy extraction efficiency of greater than 200% demonstrated.
The process of saturable-gain four-wave mixing (DFWM) in a diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 amplifier with interacting beams provided by a Nd:YAG oscillator is investigated. Multipass geometries are employed that arrange for the signal beam to experience an increased interaction length relative to that of the pump beams. DFWM reflectivities up to R = 170% and a diffraction efficiency η = 6% of the volume population hologram written in the Nd:YVO4 amplifier are obtained experimentally. A theoretical analysis of multipass DFWM is presented in the transient (pulsed) regime, including the laser amplification and the mutual interaction of all the interacting beams as well as the spectral mismatch between the beam frequency and the gain line-center frequency of the Nd:YVO4 amplifier. It is shown that because of the close spectral matchup of the Nd:YAG oscillator and the Nd:YVO4 amplifier, the amplitude (gain) grating contribution is predominant compared with that of the phase grating.