Abstract

An ultrahigh-Q, tunable optical filter with a FWHM bandwidth of 41 MHz is demonstrated. The filtering is produced by nondegenerate phase conjugation through four-wave mixing in atomic-sodium vapor. The filter is observed to have a maximum quantum efficiency of 4 × 10⁻³. However, degenerate phase-conjugation experiments in sodium suggest that a quantum efficiency of greater than unity can be attained on a cw basis.

© 1981 Optical Society of America

Effect of saturation on the spectrum of degenerate four-wave mixing in atomic sodium vapor

J. P. Woerdman and M. F. H. Schuurmans
Opt. Lett. 6(5) 239-241 (1981)

Doppler-free continuous-wave phase-conjugate spectrum of SF₆ by resonant degenerate four-wave mixing at 10.6 μm

P. Aubourg, J. P. Bettini, G. P. Agrawal, P. Cottin, D. Guérin, O. Meunier, and J. L. Boulnois
Opt. Lett. 6(8) 383-385 (1981)

Continuous-wave self-pumped optical phase conjugation in atomic sodium vapor

C. J. Gaeta, J. F. Lam, and R. C. Lind
Opt. Lett. 14(4) 245-247 (1989)

Configuration dependence of optical filtering characteristics in backward nearly degenerate four-wave mixing

S. Saikan and H. Wakata
Opt. Lett. 6(6) 281-283 (1981)

Observation of amplified reflection by degenerate four-wave mixing in atomic sodium vapor

D. M. Bloom, P. F. Liao, and N. P. Economou
Opt. Lett. 2(3) 58-60 (1978)