PHASE-CONJUGATION PROPERTIES OF 2-PHOTON-PUMPED BACKWARD-STIMULATED EMISSION - I - EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

Optical phase-conjugation properties of the backward-stimulated radiat ion from a two-photon-pumped frequency-upconversion lasing medium are studied. The gain medium is a new dye solution pumped with similar to 11-ns and similar to 1064-nm laser pulses; a highly directional and ph ase-conjugate backward-stimulated emission at similar to 616-nm wavele ngth could be obtained with a net conversion efficiency of similar to 10%. The spectral, temporal, and output-input characteristics of this kind of stimulated emission are presented in detail. The phase-conjuga tion properties of the backward-stimulated emission have been demonstr ated by both the far-field (beam-divergence) measurement and the near- field (image-reconstruction) measurement. The wave-front reconstructio n behavior is, not perfect, especially under a larger aberration influ ence. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.