Giant phase-conjugate reflection with a normal mirror in front of an optical phase-conjugator

Abstract

We theoretically study reflection of light by a phase-conjugating mirror preceded by a partially reflecting normal mirror. The presence of a suitably chosen normal mirror in front of the phase conjugator is found to greatly enhance the total phase-conjugate reflected power, even up to an order of magnitude. Required conditions are that the phase-conjugating mirror itself amplifies upon reflection and that constructive interference of light in the region between the mirrors takes place. We show that the phase-conjugate reflected power then exhibits a maximum as a function of the transmittance of the normal mirror.