Investigation of the time behaviour of different self-pumped phase-conjugating mirrors for the application in interferometric systems

The implementation of self-pumped phase-conjugating mirrors (SPPCM) in interferometers promises an extension of the application field of interferometric systems and special systems an accuracy enhancement. Up to now different types of SPPCM devices based on photorefractive crystals have been realized including the internal four-wave-mixing SPPCM (cat conjugator), the seeded backscattering SPPCM and phase-conjugating resonators. The devices are characterized by different time constants which are also characteristic for the crystal used. These time constants are overall build-up time, the 10per cent to 90 per cent build-up time (often named rise time) and the response time after small changes of the entering wave. Experimentally determined and optimized time constants using BaTiO3-crystals will be presented.