Abstract

The underlying principles and key experimental demonstrations of thermally mediated phase conjugation through transient real-time holography processes in absorbing liquid media are reviewed. The basic elements of the formalism developed to study thermal-grating evolution dynamics and diffraction efficiency are presented, emphasizing the method’s traceability to analytic techniques originally formulated to study stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering processes. The significance of the thermo-optic interaction in generating some of the highest known phase-conjugate reflectivities in four-wave mixing interactions is highlighted, with emphasis on the temporal parametrics underlying the nonlinear process in absorbing liquid media. Thermal gratings in liquid crystals are also briefly reviewed.

© 1986 Optical Society of America

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