US5038359A
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Self-pumped, optical phase conjugation method and apparatus using pseudo-conjugator to produce retroreflected seed beam
Assignee: The AT&T MVPD Group LLC
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Filing: 1989-10-10
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Granted: 1991-08-06
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Expires: 2009-10-10
Abstract
Abstract An optical input beam is transmitted through a non-linear medium capable of two-wave mixing gain by photorefractive, Brillouin, Raman, or other non-linear optical mechanism. A psuedo-conjugator retroreflects the input beam which has passed through the medium, back into the medium. The retroreflected beam acts as a seed, which lowers the threshold for producing a self-pumped conjugate reflected beam in the medium by stimulated scattering. The pseudo-conjugator may be a flat array of retroreflecting elements in the form of spheres or corner reflectors. A mosaic pattern of conjugating elements can be phase-locked to yield larger apertures and/or energy scaling, in a master-oscillator, power-amplifier (MOPA), or a four-wave mixer (FWM) configuration. The retroreflected beam can be modulated to temporally encode information onto the conjugate beam, and/or polarized to increase the system efficiency. The input and self-pumped conjugate reflected beams can be used as reference or pump beams in a FWM configuration.
Inventors
- 👤 David M. Pepper
- 👤 Ruth A. Mullen
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 09:48
CPC Classifications
H; H01; H01S; H01S3/00; H01S3/23; H01S3/2308; H01S3/2325; H01S3/2333; G; G02; G02F; G02F1/00; G02F1/35; G02F1/353; G02F1/3536; G02F1/3538; H01S3/2383; H01S3/10; H01S3/10076
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 55
Claim 1
Independent Claim
61 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped phase conjugation; and pseudo-conjugator retroreflector array means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated spatially diffuse seed beam which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
61 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped phase conjugation; and pseudo-conjugator retroreflector array means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated spatially diffuse seed beam which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
21 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the medium means is capable of two-wave mixing gain by stimulated photorefractive scattering.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
13 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the medium means is photorefractive.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
15 words
An apparatus as in claim 3, in which the medium means comprises crystalline barium titanate.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
47 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the medium means comprises a crystalline photorefractive material, and is oriented to receive the input beam at an angle to the crystalline axis of the material which causes photorefraction, and maximum backscattering of the input beam in the material.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the retroreflector array means comprises an array of retroreflecting elements.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
14 words
An apparatus as in claim 6, in which the retroreflecting elements have curved surfaces.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
13 words
An apparatus as in claim 7, in which the retroreflecting elements are spherical.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
14 words
An apparatus as in claim 6, in which the retroreflecting elements have planar surfaces.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
14 words
An apparatus as in claim 9, in which the retroreflecting elements are corner reflectors.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
13 words
An apparatus as in claim 6, in which the array is substantially planar.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
21 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the medium means is capable of two-wave mixing gain by stimulated Brillouin scattering.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
96 words
A self-pumped optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear medium means for achieving two-wave mixing gain by stimulated Brillouin scattering; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means; and frequency shifting means disposed between the medium means and the pseudo-conjugator means for downshifting said retroreflected beam relative to the input beam by a frequency equal to the Stokes frequency of the medium means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
96 words
A self-pumped optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear medium means for achieving two-wave mixing gain by stimulated Brillouin scattering; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means; and frequency shifting means disposed between the medium means and the pseudo-conjugator means for downshifting said retroreflected beam relative to the input beam by a frequency equal to the Stokes frequency of the medium means.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
21 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the medium means is capable of two-wave mixing gain by stimulated Raman scattering.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
96 words
A self-pumped optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear medium means for achieving two-wave mixing gain by stimulated Raman scattering; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means; and frequency shifting means disposed between the medium means and the pseudo-conjugator means for downshifting said retroreflected beam relative to the input beam by a frequency equal to the Stokes frequency of the medium means.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
96 words
A self-pumped optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear medium means for achieving two-wave mixing gain by stimulated Raman scattering; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means; and frequency shifting means disposed between the medium means and the pseudo-conjugator means for downshifting said retroreflected beam relative to the input beam by a frequency equal to the Stokes frequency of the medium means.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
21 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the medium means is capable of two-wave mixing gain by stimulated Rayleigh-Wing scattering.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
22 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the medium means is capable of stimulated scattering due to locally responding non-linearity therein.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
78 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped phase conjugation; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means; and polarizing means disposed between the medium means and the pseudo-conjugator means for blocking a de-polarized component of said retroreflected beam.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
78 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped phase conjugation; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means; and polarizing means disposed between the medium means and the pseudo-conjugator means for blocking a de-polarized component of said retroreflected beam.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
73 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped phase conjugation; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means; and modulator means disposed between the medium means and pseudo-conjugator means for modulating said retroreflected beam.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
73 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped phase conjugation; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam transmitted through the medium means back into the medium means as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium means; and modulator means disposed between the medium means and pseudo-conjugator means for modulating said retroreflected beam.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
42 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, further comprising amplifier means for amplifying the input beam prior to transmission thereof through the medium means the amplifier means being disposed to further amplify the self-pumped phase conjugate beam in counterpropagation with the input beam.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
31 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, further comprising optical converging means disposed between the medium means and the retroreflector array means for converging the input beam onto the retroreflector array means.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
44 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped, phase conjugation; and pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting a plurality of spatially overlapped, optical input beams transmitted through the medium, back into the medium in coherent coupled relation with each other.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
44 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped, phase conjugation; and pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting a plurality of spatially overlapped, optical input beams transmitted through the medium, back into the medium in coherent coupled relation with each other.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
47 words
An apparatus as in claim 22, in which the input beams are spatially displaced from each other prior to transmission through the medium means the apparatus further comprising optical converging means for converging the input beams into the medium means in spatially overlapped relation with each other.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
59 words
An apparatus as in claim 23, further comprising a plurality of amplifier means for amplifying the respective spatially displaced input beams prior to transmission thereof through the medium means, the amplifier means being disposed to further amplify self-pumped conjugate beams generated by the medium means in response to said respective retroreflected beams, in counterpropagation with the respective input beams.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
87 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a plurality of non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped phase conjugation; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting; and optical converging means for converging optical input beams transmitted through the plurality of medium means respectively into the pseudo-conjugator means in spatially overlapped relation with each other; the pseudo-conjugator means retroreflecting the spatially overlapped optical input beams transmitted through the respective medium means as partially conjugated, spatially diffuse reflected seed beams, back into the respective medium means in coherent coupled relation with each other.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
87 words
A self-pumped, optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a plurality of non-linear optical medium means for self-pumped phase conjugation; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting; and optical converging means for converging optical input beams transmitted through the plurality of medium means respectively into the pseudo-conjugator means in spatially overlapped relation with each other; the pseudo-conjugator means retroreflecting the spatially overlapped optical input beams transmitted through the respective medium means as partially conjugated, spatially diffuse reflected seed beams, back into the respective medium means in coherent coupled relation with each other.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
106 words
An optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a first non-linear optical medium; a second non-linear optical medium; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam sequentially transmitted through the first and second media, back into the second medium to generate a self-pumped conjugate beam which counterpropagates with the input beam in the first and second media; the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in the first medium constituting reference beams; and means for directing an optical probe beam into the first medium at an angle relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate a phase conjugate reflected beam through interaction of the probe beam with the reference beams.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
106 words
An optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a first non-linear optical medium; a second non-linear optical medium; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam sequentially transmitted through the first and second media, back into the second medium to generate a self-pumped conjugate beam which counterpropagates with the input beam in the first and second media; the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in the first medium constituting reference beams; and means for directing an optical probe beam into the first medium at an angle relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate a phase conjugate reflected beam through interaction of the probe beam with the reference beams.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
114 words
An optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a first non-linear optical medium; a second non-linear optical medium; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam sequentially transmitted through the first and second media, back into the second medium to generate a self-pumped conjugate beam which counterpropagates with the input beam in the first and second media; the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in the first medium constituting reference beams; and means for directing a plurality of optical probe beams into the first medium at angles relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate respective phase conjugate reflected beams which are coherently coupled with each other through interaction of the probe beams with the reference beams.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
114 words
An optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a first non-linear optical medium; a second non-linear optical medium; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting an optical input beam sequentially transmitted through the first and second media, back into the second medium to generate a self-pumped conjugate beam which counterpropagates with the input beam in the first and second media; the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in the first medium constituting reference beams; and means for directing a plurality of optical probe beams into the first medium at angles relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate respective phase conjugate reflected beams which are coherently coupled with each other through interaction of the probe beams with the reference beams.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus as in claim 27, in which the probe beams are non-parallel to each other.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
145 words
An optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a plurality of first non-linear optical media; a second non-linear optical medium; optical converging means for spatially converging optical input beams transmitted through the first media respectively into the second medium; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting the spatially overlapped input beams transmitted through the second medium, back into the second medium in coherent coupled relation with each other; said retroreflected beams counterpropagating with the input beams in the second medium to generate respective self-pumped conjugate beams which further counterpropagate with the input beams in the respective first media; the input and self-pumped conjugate beam in each first medium constituting reference beams; and means for directing an optical probe beam into each respective first medium at an angle relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate a phase conjugate reflected beam through interaction of the probe beam with the reference beams.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
145 words
An optical phase conjugation apparatus, comprising: a plurality of first non-linear optical media; a second non-linear optical medium; optical converging means for spatially converging optical input beams transmitted through the first media respectively into the second medium; pseudo-conjugator means for retroreflecting the spatially overlapped input beams transmitted through the second medium, back into the second medium in coherent coupled relation with each other; said retroreflected beams counterpropagating with the input beams in the second medium to generate respective self-pumped conjugate beams which further counterpropagate with the input beams in the respective first media; the input and self-pumped conjugate beam in each first medium constituting reference beams; and means for directing an optical probe beam into each respective first medium at an angle relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate a phase conjugate reflected beam through interaction of the probe beam with the reference beams.
Claim 40
Independent Claim
69 words
A method of self-pumped phase conjugation of an optical input beam, comprising the steps of: (a) directing the input beam into a non-linear optical medium; and (b) retroreflecting the input beam transmitted through the medium back into the medium as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse retroreflected beam, said retroreflected beam acting as a seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium.
Claim 41
Independent Claim
69 words
A method of self-pumped phase conjugation of an optical input beam, comprising the steps of: (a) directing the input beam into a non-linear optical medium; and (b) retroreflecting the input beam transmitted through the medium back into the medium as a partially conjugated, spatially diffuse retroreflected beam, said retroreflected beam acting as a seed which lowers the threshold necessary to generate a self-pumped phase conjugate beam in the medium.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
42 words
A method as in claim 30, in which the medium is capable of stimulated photorefractive scattering, step (a) including directing the input beam into the medium at an angle which causes photorefraction, and maximum backscattering of the input beam in the medium.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
43 words
A method as in claim 30, in which the medium is capable of stimulated Brillouin scattering, the method further comprising step of: (c) downshifting said retroreflected beam relative to the input beam by a frequency equal to a Stokes frequency of the medium.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
43 words
A method as in claim 30, in which the medium is capable of stimulated Raman scattering, the method further comprising step of: (c) downshifting said retroreflected beam relative to the input beam by a frequency equal to a Stokes frequency of the medium.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method as in claim 30, in which the medium is capable of stimulated Rayleigh-Wing scattering.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method as in claim 30, in which the medium is capable of stimulated scattering due to locally responding non-linearity therein.
Claim 47
Independent Claim
68 words
A method of optical phase conjugation, comprising the steps of: (a) amplifying a plurality of optical input beams, each by a respective amplifier; (b) directing the amplified input beams into a non-linear medium in spatially overlapped relation to each other; (c) retroreflecting the input beams transmitted through the medium back into the medium as partially conjugated, spatially diffuse retroreflected beams, said retroreflected beams coherently coupled with each other.
Claim 48
Independent Claim
68 words
A method of optical phase conjugation, comprising the steps of: (a) amplifying a plurality of optical input beams, each by a respective amplifier; (b) directing the amplified input beams into a non-linear medium in spatially overlapped relation to each other; (c) retroreflecting the input beams transmitted through the medium back into the medium as partially conjugated, spatially diffuse retroreflected beams, said retroreflected beams coherently coupled with each other.
Claim 49
Independent Claim
104 words
A method of optical phase conjugation, comprising the steps of: (a) causing an optical input beam to be sequentially transmitted through first and second non-linear media; (b) retroreflecting the input beam back into the second medium to generate a self-pumped conjugate beam which counterpropagates with the input beam in the first and second media, the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in the first medium constituting reference beams; and (c) directing an optical probe beam into the first medium at an angle relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate a phase conjugate reflected beam through interaction of the probe beam with the reference beams.
Claim 50
Independent Claim
104 words
A method of optical phase conjugation, comprising the steps of: (a) causing an optical input beam to be sequentially transmitted through first and second non-linear media; (b) retroreflecting the input beam back into the second medium to generate a self-pumped conjugate beam which counterpropagates with the input beam in the first and second media, the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in the first medium constituting reference beams; and (c) directing an optical probe beam into the first medium at an angle relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate a phase conjugate reflected beam through interaction of the probe beam with the reference beams.
Claim 51
Independent Claim
112 words
A method of optical phase conjugation, comprising the steps of: (a) causing an optical input beam to be sequentially transmitted through first and second non-linear media; (b) retroreflecting the input beam back into the second medium to generate a self-pumped conjugate beam which counterpropagates with the input beam in the first and second media, the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in the first medium constituting reference beams; and (c) directing a plurality of optical probe beams into the first medium at angles relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate respective phase conjugate reflected beams which are coherently coupled with each other through interaction of the probe beams with the reference beams.
Claim 52
Independent Claim
112 words
A method of optical phase conjugation, comprising the steps of: (a) causing an optical input beam to be sequentially transmitted through first and second non-linear media; (b) retroreflecting the input beam back into the second medium to generate a self-pumped conjugate beam which counterpropagates with the input beam in the first and second media, the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in the first medium constituting reference beams; and (c) directing a plurality of optical probe beams into the first medium at angles relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate respective phase conjugate reflected beams which are coherently coupled with each other through interaction of the probe beams with the reference beams.
Claim 53
Independent Claim
144 words
A method of optical phase conjugation, comprising the steps of: (a) causing optical input beams to be sequentially transmitted through a plurality of first non-linear media respectively; (b) converging the input beams transmitted through the first media into a second non-linear medium into spatially overlapped relation to each other; (c) retroreflecting the spatially overlapped input beams transmitted through the second medium back into the second medium in coherent coupled relation with each other to generate respective self-pumped conjugate beams which further counterpropagate with the input beams in the respective first media, the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in each first medium constituting reference beams; and (d) directing an optical probe beam into each of the respective first media at an angle relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate a phase conjugate reflected beam through interaction of the probe beam with the reference beams.
Claim 54
Independent Claim
144 words
A method of optical phase conjugation, comprising the steps of: (a) causing optical input beams to be sequentially transmitted through a plurality of first non-linear media respectively; (b) converging the input beams transmitted through the first media into a second non-linear medium into spatially overlapped relation to each other; (c) retroreflecting the spatially overlapped input beams transmitted through the second medium back into the second medium in coherent coupled relation with each other to generate respective self-pumped conjugate beams which further counterpropagate with the input beams in the respective first media, the input and self-pumped conjugate beams in each first medium constituting reference beams; and (d) directing an optical probe beam into each of the respective first media at an angle relative to the reference beams predetermined to generate a phase conjugate reflected beam through interaction of the probe beam with the reference beams.
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
47 words
An apparatus as in claim 1, in which the medium means is capable of stimulated scattering and the apparatus further comprises frequency shifting means disposed between the medium means and the retroreflector array means for shifting the frequency of said retroreflected beam relative to the input beam.
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| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1994-08-05 | 1995-02-04 | 1995-08-06 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1998-08-05 | 1999-02-04 | 1999-08-06 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2002-08-05 | 2003-02-04 | 2003-08-06 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |