Polarization properties of four-wave optical phase conjugation under continuous conditions

Experimental and theoretical investigations were made of the polarization characteristics of a four-wave phase-conjugate mirror utilizing the 3S_1/2–3P_3/2 transition in sodium atoms and different combinations of linearly and circularly polarized external waves. A good agreement was established between the experimental results and a theory developed allowing for the optical transfer of atoms between magnetic sublevels and for a residual Doppler broadening due to the noncollinearity of the wave vectors of the interacting waves.