Abstract

We present a detailed general theory of multiwave mixing effects in a nonlinear medium produced by two incident coherent laser beams. Calculations are performed for localized as well as diffusive types of nonlinearities. The theory accounts for all the relevant parameters such as laser pulse widths, medium response times, nonlinearities, interaction length, intensities, beam ratio, phase modulation effects, losses, and side diffractions. The interrelationship between two- and multiwave mixing effects and the evolution of transient to stationary behavior is explicitly worked out. In particular, the gain experienced by a weak incident probe beam via these mixing effects is quantitatively analyzed as a function of the aforementioned parameters.

© 1989 Optical Society of America