Transient analysis of four-grating copolarized four-wave mixing in saturable gain media with finite probe

Abstract
We model transient copolarized degenerate four-wave mixing in a saturable gain medium, using pulses of duration much shorter than the population lifetime with a finite probe beam. Initially we describe a model to include the simultaneous existence of both the reflection and transmission gratings for arbitrary field strengths. Then we develop a model to include all four possible gratings, including standing-wave gratings between counterpropagating pump beams and the probe and conjugate beams. By use of two expansion methods for the higher-order grating terms it is possible to model regimes in which either one grating is arbitrarily strong or all four gratings are strong. Comparisons are made among models including one, two, and four gratings. Good agreement is found between the theoretical four-grating case and pulsed copolarized degenerate four-wave mixing experiments in laser-pumped Ti:sapphire for a finite probe beam.