High-reflectivity four-wave mixing by gain saturation of nanosecond and microsecond radiation in Nd:YAG

Abstract
High-reflectivity four-wave mixing by gain saturation in a Nd:YAG laser amplifier is demonstrated. With a four-pass geometry, the phase-conjugate reflectivity of a Q-switched pulse (18-ns duration) is ∼2500, and for a long pulse (relaxation oscillation duration ∼100 μs) it is ∼30. Temporal and energy characteristics of the conjugate beam are presented. A phase-conjugate Nd:YAG TEM00 laser resonator is also produced in which the Nd:YAG rod is simultaneously the laser gain medium and the phase-conjugating device.