Four-wave mixing of a chirped signal with bandwidth-limited pump waves in a resonant medium

An investigation is reported of the characteristic features of four-wave interaction of a chirped signal with bandwidth-limited pump waves in a resonant medium modelled by a two-level scheme. Analytic estimates are obtained and a numerical analysis is made of the combined influence of various mechanisms (spatial phase matching, a finite nonlinear response time, and phase cross-modulation) on the spectral composition and on the temporal behaviour of the fourth pulse. Conditions are found for achieving, with practically undetectable distortions, phase conjugation of a chirped signal accompanied by shortening of the pulse envelope and narrowing of the spectrum of the phase-conjugate wave.