Double phase-conjugate mirror: Analysis, demonstration, and applications

We report on the operation of the double phase-conjugate mirror (DPCM). Two inputs to opposite sides of a photorefractive barium titanate crystal, which may carry different spatial images, are shown to pump the same fourwave mixing process mutually and are self-refracted without any external or internal crystal surface. This results in the phase-conjugate reproduction of the two images simultaneously. This device is analyzed theoretically, and applications in image processing, interferometry, and rotation sensing are discussed. We also demonstrate the operation of a ring laser, using the DPCM, as well as a photorefractive resonator with two facing DPCM’s that can support spatial information in its oscillations.