Investigation on a high energy stimulated Brillouin scattering phase-conjugate mirror

Abstract

A novel dual-cell Brillouin oscillator-amplifier phase conjugate mirror for high energy and high peak power operation in double-pass solid state laser amplifier is described. Correction of static aberration and dynamic aberration induced in single-pass amplifier was achieved in the second passage through the aberrating medium under the condition of using the stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugate mirror as reflector. Output energy of 13 J was obtained with input energy of 7.1 J. An energy reflectivity of 65% and a conjugation fidelity of 90% were achieved by the use of this dual-cell phase conjugate mirror. Finally, the performance of this kind of SBS reflector in a double-pass amplifier has been compared to that of a flat mirror. The results show that the SBS reflector is highly effective in correcting the spatial aberrations of laser radiation. Excellent near-and far-field conjugation fidelities were obtained even with high input energy.