Anisotropic four-wave mixing in cubic photorefractive crystals

Abstract
The anisotropic four-wave mixing in the scheme recently proposed by S.I. Stepanov and M.P. Petrov (Opt. Commun. vol.53, p.64-8, 1985) is studied. The main feature of this interaction arrangement is that the same phase hologram (index grating) has opposite contrasts for orthogonally polarized, counterpropagating waves. The coupled nonlinear equations, in the case of transmission and reflection gratings, for the pi /2 photorefractive phase shift are exactly solved, and their properties are discussed in detail. The numerical evidence of the effects of bistability and self-oscillation is included.