Optical Phase Conjugation via Four-Wave Mixing in Barium Titanate.

Abstract

Optical phase conjugation is a nonlinear optical phenomenon that replicates a distorted electromagnetic wave. This process has potential in distortion correction, pointing and tracking, improved laser resonators, image enhancement, and optical communcations. Nonlinear effects that can produce a phase conjugate wave include; photorefraction, Brillouin scattering, Raman scattering, Kerr-like four-wave mixing, photon echoes, three wave mixing, and electrorestrictive effects. Photorefraction in a crystal of barium titanate can produce a phase conjugate replica of a laser beam through four-wave mixing. Barium titanate is unique because self generated conjugate returns will form from corner reflections. Self pumped optical phase conjugation was achieved at six wavelength between 457.9 and 514 nm. Factors affecting the return included the laser wavelength, intensity, and angle of incidence with the c axis. The average return amounted to about 25% of the incident beam. The phase conjugate return interacted with the laser modes, significantly increasing the laser power.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADA168908

Entities

People

  • James R. Ryan

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Crystals
  • Diffraction
  • Distortion
  • Laser Beams
  • Laser Resonators
  • Lasers
  • Nonlinear Optics
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Phase Transformations
  • Pockels Effect
  • Reflection
  • Refraction
  • Refractive Index
  • Scattering
  • Transition Temperature
  • Wave Mixing

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Radar Systems Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy