Abstract

Thermal blooming limits the far-field intensity of laser beams which travel through absorbing media. We have recently observed phase conjugate correction of thermal blooming.^[1,2] Since the backscattered beam always had less energy than the incoming beam, it was unclear whether amplified phase conjugate beams would compensate the blooming accurately. In fact, it has been suggested that phase conjugation corrects laser intensity-induced aberrations only when the incoming and phase conjugate waves have the same intensity.^[3] This paper demonstrates the accurate correction of thermal blooming by an amplified phase conjugate beam.

© 1992 IQEC