Rhodium-Doped Barium Titanate Phase-Conjugate Mirror for an All-Solid-State, High-Repetition-Rate, Diode-Pumped Nd:YAG Master-Oscillator Power Amplifier Laser.

Self-pumped phase conjugation in infrared-sensitive photorefractive rhodium-doped barium titanate (Rh:BaTiO(3)) is investigated with a kilohertz-repetition-rate, diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser. We also demonstrate the operation of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG master-oscillator power-amplifier system with such a compact and solid-state phase-conjugate mirror for wave-front restoration. We obtain near-diffraction-limited output pulses of 20-mJ energy at a repetition rate of 200 Hz and a 1-min response time of the phase-conjugate mirror. The performances of the Rh:BaTiO(3) crystal are compared with those obtained with a conventional Brillouin mirror.