Nonlinear optical properties of the active medium in intracavity phase conjugation of the radiation of a pulsed electron-beam-controlled discharge CO2 laser. II. Theoretical analysis

Numerical simulation is used as the basis of an analysis of nonlinear optical properties of the active medium in intracavity four-wave mixing of the radiation of a pulsed electron-beam-controlled discharge CO₂ laser on saturated-gain and refractive-index diffraction gratings. The reflection coefficient of the phase-conjugated signal is determined for various cavity Q-factors, specific input energies, and pressures of the laser-active mixture. A comparison is made of the theoretical and experimental results. It is found that the rate of formation of amplitude gratings is governed primarily by the initial population inversion and by the intensities of the interacting waves. It is shown that transient phase gratings make the dominant contribution to the phase-conjugate reflection coefficient at high pressures of the mixture.