Effects of Phase Distortions in Conjugating Media

Abstract

Phase conjugated light waves reverse phase distortions in media with negligible absorption or for paraxial beam propagation [1]. We examine here a different case in which a volume conjugating medium is itself imperfect, possessing phase distortions and a conjugating efficiency dependent on grating spatial frequency. We show theoretically that for multiplexed signals, cross-talk-free phase-conjugation is obtained only for negligible spatial-frequency dispersion and a phase-conjugated reference or pump wave, and we present supporting experimental results.