Experimental observation of amplification of beams by dynamic surface holograms

Amplification of the power of a laser beam in the course of self-diffraction by a dynamic surface hologram was observed experimentally. The gain reached 14 without signal distortion. This self-diffraction was accompanied by a strong reduction in the pulse duration. A beam of high directionality was amplified by the transfer of energy from a reference wave which was of low optical quality. Wavefront reversal was performed by the hologram surface and this was accompanied by a sevenfold increase in the brightness.