Highly efficient hologram enhancement in Bi12TiO20 fibre-type crystal

Experimental results for two-wave mixing experiments in a single Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ fibre-type crystal at a wavelength of 632.8 nm under transverse a.c. electric field are reported. An exponential gain factor =4.7 cm^-1, which is much higher than the absorption coefficient (0.6 cm^-1), is obtained. It is observed that the signal beam enhancement is in fact signal beam depletion for spatial frequencies higher than F _B, which is determined by fibre geometry. An unusually strong dependence of response time on the recording beams intensities ratio reflects the nonlinearities of the multi-two-wave mixing process.     

Photorefractive properties of paraelectric potassium lithium tantalate niobate crystal doped with iron

We report the successful growth of paraelectric potassium lithium tantalate niobate (KLTN) single crystal doped with iron. Detailed investigations have been made on the photorefractive properties of the as-grown crystal. The key parameters such as space-charge field, grating response time, photorefractive sensitivity and sign of the dominant charge carrier were obtained by two-wave mixing technique. 1.7 mm thick sample exhibits a high diffraction efficiency of 78% at the external field of 3.3 kV/cm and a sensitivity of 1.49 × 10⁻¹⁰E₀ cm²/J. The two-wave mixing gain coefficient increases linearly with external field, and reaches a large value of 19.4 cm⁻¹ at 4 kV/cm. Based on experimental results, iron is an effective dopant to KLTN which shows high diffraction efficiency and two-wave mixing gain coefficient.     

The inhomogeneity of two-wave coupling in photorefractive crystals in 90° geometry

We derived the coupling equations of two-wave coupling in photorefractive crystals in 90° geometry where pump and signal beams enter two mutually orthogonal crystal faces vertically. We solved the equations numerically in the case of non-local response and illustrated the influence of the coupling coefficient, the absorption coefficient and the ratio of intensities of the two incident beams,R, on the inhomogeneity of transmitted pump and signal beams.     

Beam coupling and decoupling in degenerate two-wave mixing in a reflection geometry with photorefractive Bi2GeO20 crystals

The dependence of the effective gain on the incident angle of the beams and on the initial beam intensity ratio is studied in the experiment of degenerate two-wave mixing (TWM) in a reflection geometry with photorefractive Bi₁₂GeO₂₀ (BGO) crystals. A saturation value of the effective coupling constant ¦g¦-0.4 cm^–1 is obtained. In contrast to TWM operated in the drift mode (i.e. with a nonzero electric field applied to the crystal), for TWM operated in the diffusion mode (zero external electric field) as is our case, beam coupling is reduced by moving the crystal or the interference fringes at a constant speed. At high moving speeds, complete beam decoupling can be reached. A comparison between the theoretical and measured dependence of the effective gain on the moving speed is also made. Using this technique, complete isolation of two intersecting coherent beams inside a nonlinear medium can be achieved.     

Far-infrared self-broadening and pressure shift measurements of methyl cyanide

Pressure shifts and self-broadening parameters of the J=4342, J=4443, J=5655 and J=6867 sub-bands of the¹A₁ ground state of CH₃C¹⁴N up to K=10 were determined using the NIST tunable far-infrared (TuFIR) spectrometer. The pressure shift agrees well with theoretical predictions made using Anderson-Tsao-Curnutte theory. The self-broadening parameter shows the expected K depencence. However, the predictions are systematically too large for decreasing J. The influence of the TuFIR power spectrum on the derived experimental parameters was evaluated and a comparison was made between two-wave and three-wave mixing spectroscopy.     

Vector phase conjugation in Cr4+:YAG by four-wave mixing with linearly-polarized pump beams

We experimentally demonstrate vector phase conjugation in Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber at 1.06m with nanosecond pulses using degenerate four-wave mixing with linearly-polarized pump beams of arbitrary strengths. The experimental results show that the phase conjugate wave produced by this method can correct depolarisation induced by a birefringent medium.     

非相干背景光辐照对LiNbO3∶Fe与LiNbO3∶Fe∶In晶体中二波耦合的控制

理论分析和实验观测了非相干背景光辐照下掺杂LiNbO₃晶体中的二波耦合,发现非相干背景光能够在很大范围内灵活有效地控制信号光增益,抑制扇形效应,提高信噪比,缩短光栅的建立时间.入射光光强比一定时,适当地增大背景光光强可以使光栅响应时间减小一个数量级.尤其对于抽运光光强远大于信号光光强的情况下,上述作用更为明显. 关键词： 光折变 二波耦合 非相干背景光     

Photorefractive properties and self-pumped phase conjugation in a series of BaTiO3 crystals

This paper presents the experimental results of two-wave mixing and self-pumped phase conjugation (SPPC) in barium titanate (BaTiO₃) crystals doped with Rh or Ce. It has been shown that the main parameters of SPPC depend very strongly on the concentrations of dopants, the incident angles and the crystal cut used. High gain in two-wave mixing corresponds to low phase-conjugate reflectivity in all samples. It is impossible to maintain the highest reflectivity and gain simultaneously, because the gain will definitely be limited when we try to get the highest reflectivity, and vice versa. Some qualitative explanation of the experimental results is also given. Received: 5 January 2001 / Final version: 25 May 2001 / Published online: 19 September 2001     

Neutrino properties from high-energy astrophysical neutrinos

It is shown how high-energy neutrino beams from very distant sources can be utilized to learn about some properties of neutrinos such as lifetimes. Furthermore, even mixing elements such as U_e3 and the CP-violating phase in the neutrino mixing matrix can be measured in principle. Pseudo-Dirac mass differences as small as 10^?18 eV² can be probed as well.     

一种新型的空气扰动探测方法

基于光折变材料的二波耦合特性提出了一种新型的空气扰动探测方法。空气中的微扰导致入射到光折变材料中两束光的光程差发生改变，干涉条纹随之发生变化。由于光折变体相位栅建立时间比较长，体相位栅不能及时跟随干涉条纹发生变化，导致干涉条纹与体相位栅间的相移将随空气扰动信息的变化而变化。相移角的改变将导致瞬态能量转移，输出两束光的能量在瞬态能量转移作用下将实现对空气扰动信息的光调制，并且这种调制过程是一种差分调制方式。在接收端采用电差分检测方法便可解调出空气扰动信息。这种利用光折变体相位栅的差分探测方法在未来的探测领域将有广泛的应用前景。     

光折变晶体BaTiO3中二波混频的温度效应

研究了光折变晶体钛酸钡中相向传输的二波混频的温度效应,得到在 BaTiO₃中增益耦合系数随温升而增加、并在85℃左右反向.说明其主要载流子的类型在此温度时发生改变.给出了有效陷阱浓度N(T)的温升模型,其理论预期值与实验数据符合较好.     

Propagation properties of partially coherent Laguerre-Gaussian beams in turbulent atmosphere

To study the propagation properties of partially coherent Laguerre-Gaussian (PLG) beams through turbulent atmosphere, the analytical formulas are derived for the angular width and the beam-propagation factor (M²-factor) of PLG beams by using the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle and the second-order moments of the Wigner distribution function (WDF). The corresponding numerical results are also calculated. When propagation distance increases, the angular width is found to spread faster for PLG beams with higher beam order, smaller correlation length and bigger structure constant The angular width of PLG beams decreases with increase in waist width (w₀).The M²-factor of PLG beams with higher beam order and smaller correlation length is less affected by turbulence with increase in propagation distance. The propagation properties of the M²-factor for PLG beams with the smaller structure constant are better than that with bigger structure constant . The M²-factor of PLG beams decreases with increase in the wavelength λ, and it is also less affected by turbulence for beams with higher order and smaller correlation length. Furthermore, for the PLG beams with the same beam order, the angular width and the M²-factor keep invariable in free space.     

Evolution and stability of spatial solitons in a photorefractive two-wave mixing system

The dynamical evolution and stability of bright dissipative holographic solitons in biased photorefractive materials in which the self-trapping beam obtains a gain from the pump beam via two-wave mixing has been investigated numerically. Results show that these solitons are stable relative to small perturbations. Adjusting some system parameters, such as the bias field and the angle between beams, can easily control the generation of such solitons. Potential applications in optical switches or repeaters are discussed.     

Theoretical analysis of the effects of frequency detuning dependence of photorefractive two- beam coupling coefficient on gain and phase-shifts of the signal beam for a coupled unidirectional photorefractive ring resonators

Dependence of two-beam coupling gain and phase-shift of the signal beams on the frequency detuning for a coupled unidirectional ring resonators based on non-degenerate two-wave mixing in the photorefractive crystals have been investigated in details. The effects of various parameters characterizing the photorefractive medium such as frequency detuning, absorption strength, two-beam energy coupling strength and pump intensity of the external laser beams, on the two-beam coupling gain and phase-shift of the signal beams for a coupled UPRR have also been studied in details. It has been found that the photorefractive gain of the signal beam in the primary cavity of the coupled UPRR can be enhanced to the higher order by taking the lower value of the frequency detuning of the primary cavity which could exist at much lower value of the absorption strength of the crystal B. This higher value of photorefractive gains in the cavities are responsible for the strong coupling between the modes of the oscillations of the coupled UPRR.     

Wide gas-ion beam source based on an arc discharge in a nonuniform magnetic field

The construction of an ion source based on a low-pressure arc with a screened cathode spot is described. The source is ignited by an auxiliary glow discharge in a magnetron electrode system. Ions are extracted from the plasma of the anode part of the arc, generated in a reflective electrode system. The effect of the magnetic induction and the emitter electrode potential on the parameters of the anode plasma was investigated, and the conditions required for generation of a dense uniform plasma, ion emission from which gives beams of ions of nitrogen, argon, oxygen, other gases with cross section 100 cm², current density 10 mA/cm² and nonuniformity of the plasma distribution in the beam cross section 10%, were determined. The formation of wide and converging beams with ion energies up to 50 keV by multiple-aperture ion-optic systems were examined. The source operates in the periodic-pulse mode. The repetition frequency of 1-msec pulses can be regulated from 0 to 50 sec^–1 giving an average beam current of up to 50 mA. It is intended for use in technologies for modification of the surface properties of materials and deposition of thin films. A cold cathode makes possible prolonged operation of the source with chemically active gases.Institute of Electrophysics, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshykh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 66–75, March, 1994.     

Dependence of gain and phase-shift on crystal parameters and pump intensity in unidirectional photorefractive ring resonators

The steady-state amplification of light beam during two-wave mixing in photorefractive materials has been analysed in the strong nonlinear regime. The oscillation conditions for unidirectional ring resonator have been studied. The signal beam can be amplified in the presence of material absorption, provided the gain due to the beam coupling is large enough to overcome the cavity losses. Such amplification is responsible for the oscillations. The gain bandwidth is only a few Hz. In spite of such an extremely narrow bandwidth, unidirectional oscillation can be observed easily at any cavity length in ring resonators by using photorefractive crystals as the medium and this can be explained in terms of the photorefractive phase-shift. The presence of such a phase-shift allows the possibility of the non-reciprocal steady-state transfer of energy between the two light beams. Dependence of gain bandwidth on coupling constant, absorption coefficient of the material’s cavity length (crystal length) and modulation ratio have also been studied.      

Photorefractive effect in Fe-doped GaN

The photorefractive effect was observed in Fe-doped semi-insulating GaN. We measured the two-beam coupling constant and the grating formation time as a function of pump intensity at a wavelength of 458 nm in reflection geometry. The photorefractive gain coefficient was 0.39 cm⁻¹, and the grating formation time was 7 ms at a pump intensity of 1.0 W/cm². Besides the refractive index grating, the contribution of an absorption grating was also observed in a two-wave mixing experiment. The coupling constant of the absorption grating was negative and increased with the pump intensity. The origin of the absorption grating was attributed to light-intensity-dependent photochromism.     

Low-divergence operation of a long-pulse excimer laser using a SBS phase-conjugate cavity

The use of an optical cavity containing a stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) phase-conjugate reflector to control the spatial and spectral output of a long pulse (>100 ns) X-ray preionized XeCl laser is reported. The divergence of the 3×4 cm² output beam has been improved by a factor of 20 to <150 rad. The temporal form of the output depends on the acoustic decay times of the liquid and gaseous SBS media used. Four-wave mixing via gain saturation has been observed within the discharge volume, leading to depolarisation of the output beam.     

Picosecond phase-conjugation by degenerate four-wave mixing in sodium vapour

Phase-conjugated waves (PCW), via degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) with picosecond laser pulses having a FWHM of 80 ps have been obtained in sodium vapour on both sides of theD ₂(3² S _1/23² P _3/2) transition at 589 nm. The maximum reflectivity of the PCW signals was 60%. The reflectivity of the PCW has been measured as a function of the temperature, the detuning and the pump and probe intensities. Because of the very strong nonlinear behaviour of theD ₂ transition the appearance of the PCW is accompanied by strong self-focusing and defocusing of the beams, which give a rather complicated line-shape of the detuning curve of the PCW. By varying the delay between the beams, the lifetime of the transient volume grating has been, measured to be 7.4 ns. The results are in qualitative agreement with the theoretical model of Abrams and Lind.     

Oscillation dependence of two-wave mixing gain for unidirectional ring resonator in photorefractive materials

Dependence of the coupling strength of two-wave mixing gain in photorefractive materials for the single unidirectional ring resonator on oscillation conditions has been analyzed in the strong nonlinear regime. In this regime, difference between the frequency of the pump beam and oscillating beam is proportional to the cavity-length detuning, which can be explained in terms of the photorefractive phase-shift. This phase-shift results due to slightly non-degenerate two-wave mixing that compensates for cavity detuning and satisfies the round-trip phase condition for the steady-state oscillation. The presence of such a phase-shift allows the possibility of the nonreciprocal steady-state energy transfer between the pump and oscillating beams. If the gain due to the beam coupling is large enough to overcome the cavity losses then the signal beam is amplified in the presence of material absorption. Such amplification is responsible for the oscillations. For the single unidirectional ring resonator, the effects of cavity-length detuning, energy coupling coefficient, crystal thickness of the material, reflectivity of the cavity mirrors and material's absorption coefficient on the frequency and intensity of oscillations have also been studied in detail. It has been found that for the smaller value of absorption coefficient (α) of the photorefractive crystal, the unidirectional ring resonator can oscillate at almost any cavity-length detuning (ΔΓ) whereas for the larger value of α oscillation occurs only when the cavity-length detuning is limited to small region (around ΔΓ=0). But reverse of the case is found for energy coupling coefficient (γ₀).