Diffraction from metallic gratings with locally varying profile forms.

Measurements of the diffraction characteristics of one-dimensional surface-relief gratings of locally varying profile are compared with rigorous diffraction theory. These gratings result from the superposition of two linear sinusoidal gratings of uniform depth for which the relative phase between the two gratings varies slowly with position. The resultant surface profile exhibits a relatively large-period variation in profile form.

Enhancement of the nonlinear optical properties of fluorescin doped boric-acid glass through cooling.

We examine, both theoretically and experimentally, the temperature dependence of the nonlinear optical response of fluorescein doped boric-acid glass. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility is increased by an order of magnitude over its room temperature value to greater than 10 esu by cooling the sample to a temperature below 200 K.

Passive one-way aberration correction using four-wave mixing.

We have demonstrated a passive method for recovering an optical image that has been degraded by being passed through a thin phase-aberrating medium. This method relies on a point source situated near the object of interest to sample the aberration impressed upon the wave front. Degenerate four-wave mixing in fluorescein-doped boric acid glass was used to reconstruct the wave front.

Nature of the interference pattern produced on reflection at a phase-conjugate mirror.

We show theoretically and experimentally that the positions of the fringes produced by interference between a wave incident upon a phase-conjugate mirror and the wave leaving the mirror depend on the phase associated with the incident wave. This result is in contrast to that obtained when an ordinary metal mirror is used, in which case the interference pattern is found to beindependent of the phase of the incident wave.