Phase conjugation by nondegenerate four-wave mixing with excited-state Zeeman coherences

Abstract

Nondegenerate four-wave mixing on the j=0→ j=1 transition, in a "V" system, using orthogonal, circularly polarized pump beams is used to study theoretically the generation of the phase-conjugate signals. The efficiency of generation of the conjugate wave is studied as a function of the various system parameters such as pump-probe detuning, Zeeman splitting, pump-atom detuning, collisional parameters, and the intensities of the pump beams. The origin of the various resonances in the reflectivity is explained. For weak pump fields, some resonances are shown to have subnatural linewidths. In the degenerate case, the reflectivity as a function of pump-atom detuning has, in contrast to a two-level system, a doublet structure for moderate absorption-length parameters and field strengths. The reflectivity is shown to have additional resonances due to pump imbalance. The phase-conjugate signal is also shown to exhibit the pressure-induced extra resonances.