Wavefront reversal by four-wave mixing in a medium exhibiting Raman nonlinearity

A theoretical and experimental investigation is made of the feasibility of wavefront reversal by four-wave interaction in a medium exhibiting Raman nonlinearity. Theoretical dependences of the reflection coefficient of the four-wave mixer on the gain increment, phase detuning, and pump asymmetry parameter are obtained for the case of plane waves. In experiments using a ruby laser and quasiplane waves the maximum reflection coefficient of the nonlinear mirror was 0.5%, which agreed with the theoretical estimate. An experimental investigation was made of the wavefront reversal quality, and possible methods of improving this are discussed.