Abstract:
An analysis of wavefront reversal (WFR) of optical beams in anisotropic media (class 3m electrooptic crystals, such as LiNbO3 and LiTaO3) is used to show that WFR depends strongly on the crystal orientation and on the predominant nonlinearity mechanism. A new type of WFR of parallel beams is proposed, this being due to intermode scattering between ordinary and extraordinary waves in holographic gratings.