Control of the characteristics of reversing mirrors in the amplification regime

An analysis is made of some characteristics of the formation of a Stokes wave in stimulated Brillouin scattering (STBS) both from the spontaneous noise and under conditions of amplification of a signal correlated with the pump wave. This analysis is used to develop a technique whereby efficient reflection of a laser wave with wavefront reversal can be obtained using a light pipe of arbitrary transverse dimensions. Experiments carried out using a prototype nine-channel laser facility showed that by using an STBS oscillator–STBS amplifier system, it is possible to increase the reflection coefficient and improve the reversal quality, so that this system has advantages for the development of high-power multichannel laser systems.