2-WAVE MIXING IN AN ND-YAG AMPLIFIER BY G AIN SATURATION

Two-wave mixing between a pump and a signal beam at lambda=1.06 mu m i n the saturable gain of a flash-lamp-pumped Nd:YAG amplifier has been investigated, both experimentally and theoretically, by developing a n ew transient model. It is shown that energy redistribution occurs and leads to the depletion of the low-intensity signal beam owing to the p i dephasing between the gain grating and the interference pattern. Fin ally, we have measured a diffraction efficiency of 20% of the dynamic transmission gain-grating by diffracting a probe beam at lambda=1.06 m u m under the Bragg condition.