THE DEGENERATE FOUR-WAVE MIXING OF LIGHT WITH ARBITRARY POLARIZATIONS IN ISOTROPIC MEDIUM

Abstract

The functional relations have been presented between the complex amplitude (including polarization) of reflected wave on the one hand and amplitudes, polarizations of pump and probe waves, the third-order nonlinear susceptibility on the other hand, for degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) in isotropic medium, in which the polarizations are linear and/or circular, and the geometry is collinear or non-collinear. In the non-collinear geometry, when the polarizations of pump waves are parallel to each other, one can determine the ratio x1111/x1221 from the angles between polarization directions of probe and reflected waves; when the polarizations of pump are circular polarizations of the same handedness, one can get the ideal complex conjugate wave in this geometry. In the collinear geometry, there are always some non-conjugate component in the reflected wave, and the functional relation between reflection coefficient of amplitude and the thickness of sample can have the form of tangent function, hyperbolic tangent function and linear function; when the polarizations of pump waves are parallel to each other and |x1221|> |x1122|, this geometry is capable of generating self-oscillation; when polarizations of pump are circular ones of different handedness, DFWM acts as an ideal plane-mirror for probe wave with circular polarization, etc. The results can be used to explain some well-known experimental results and provide some theoretical guidance for designing new experiments.