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Optics Letters

Two-wave mixing in Nd:YAG by gain saturation

A. Brignon, Jean‐Pierre Huignard

Published Oct 1, 1993• 42 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Two-wave mixing at λ = 1.06 μm in the saturable gain of a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG amplifier was investigated, both experimentally and theoretically, by development of a transient analysis. Despite the local response of the inverted medium, it is shown that energy redistribution can occur, thus leading to the depletion of a low-intensity signal beam. Finally we measured a diffraction efficiency of 20% of the transmission-gain grating by diffracting a probe beam at λ = 1.06 μm under the Bragg condition.

DOI
10.1364/ol.18.001639

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Resonant two-wave mixing of optical beams by refractive-index and gain gratings in inverted Nd:YAG

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It is shown experimentally that a weak optical signal in a Nd:YAG amplifier can have an extraordinarily large gain that is due to transient coherent nonlinear interaction with a strong laser beam. The effect is explained by the diffraction of the strong beam on the dynamic refractive-index grating induced in the interference field of the interacting optical waves and caused by the difference of polarizability of the excited and the unexcited Nd3+ ions. The numerical calculation confirmed the energy transfer from the strong beam to the weak one owing to the predominance of diffraction efficiency of the refractive-index grating over the gain grating in an inverted laser crystal. The investigations give the estimation of the ratio of the real and the imaginary parts of the resonant susceptibility of Nd:YAG at 1064 nm in the range 2–3.

Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Aug 1, 1998•22 citations
Two-wave mixing at λ = 1.06 μm in the saturable gain of a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG amplifier was investigated, both experimentally and theoretically, by development of a transient analysis. Despite the local response of the inverted medium, it is shown that energy redistribution can occur, thus leading to the depletion of a low-intensity signal beam. Finally we measured a diffraction efficiency of 20% of the transmission-gain grating by diffracting a probe beam at λ = 1.06 μm under the Bragg condition.
Degenerate four-wave mixing with orthogonally polarized pump beams at /spl lambda/=1.06 /spl mu/m in the saturable gain of a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG amplifier is investigated, both experimentally and theoretically, using pulses of duration much less than the population relaxation time. We introduce a new set of coupled-wave equations in this short pulse regime that includes the effect of the four interacting waves and the laser gain experienced by all the beams. The dependence of the efficiency of the process on the small-intensity-gain-length product, beam ratios, and fluences is analyzed. A reflectivity of a weak probe beam of 25 percent and a transmission-gain-grating diffraction efficiency of 32 percent are achieved. Finally, the temporal shape of the conjugate signal is studied for various gain-saturation regimes.>
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.
We investigate self-diffraction and multiwave scattering by a nonsinusoidal gain grating induced in a thick laser medium with pulses of duration much less than the population relaxation time. The energies of the transmitted and of the two first-order self-diffracted beams are calculated. Experimental measurements performed in a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG amplifier at lambda = 1.064 microm show good agreement with the theoretical results. A total energy in the two first-order scattered waves of 1.1 mJ is obtained for a total incident energy of 14 mJ.
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 formation of gratings accompanying a population grating in a flash-lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser amplifier has been studied by using both nondegenerate and degenerate four-wave mixing techniques. In our investigations the grating of population inversion was induced by optical waves at 1064 nm. The refractive index grating caused by the population grating was read by an optical wave at another wavelength (1054 nm or 694 nm) in nondegenerate four-wave mixing experiments. In the degenerate four-wave mixing experiments the total grating, i.e. the sum of the refractive index and gain gratings, was read by resonant wave (at 1064 nm wavelength). The dependence of the ratio of real and imaginary parts of the resonant susceptibility of Nd:YAG at 1064 nm on the pump power has been determined through comparison of experimental results and numerical calculations.
It is shown experimentally that a weak optical signal in a Nd:YAG amplifier can have an extraordinarily large gain that is due to transient coherent nonlinear interaction with a strong laser beam. The effect is explained by the diffraction of the strong beam on the dynamic refractive-index grating induced in the interference field of the interacting optical waves and caused by the difference of polarizability of the excited and the unexcited Nd3+ ions. The numerical calculation confirmed the energy transfer from the strong beam to the weak one owing to the predominance of diffraction efficiency of the refractive-index grating over the gain grating in an inverted laser crystal. The investigations give the estimation of the ratio of the real and the imaginary parts of the resonant susceptibility of Nd:YAG at 1064 nm in the range 2–3.