Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Polarization selective optical phase conjugation in a Kerr-like medium
A. E. Neeves, Meyer H. Birnboim
Abstract
Measurements of optical phase-conjugation signals by degenerate four-wave mixing in an isotropic Kerr-like suspension of polystyrene spheres are reported. Polarization discrimination through orthogonally polarized pump beams was used to measure separately the coarse-grating and the fine-grating contributions. Autocorrelation techniques permitted measurement at low power levels. The coarse-grating contribution to χ(3) for a suspension of 0.05-μm-diameter polystyrene spheres in water yielded an effective χ(3) = 2.4 × 10−15 (m/V)2, in good agreement with theory, whereas the fine-grating contribution for the same solution yielded χ(3) = 0.56 × 10−15 (m/V)2, a value 10 times smaller than predicted by theory. Limitations of the theory are discussed.