Laser-beam cleanup using photorefractive two-wave mixing and optical phase conjugation

Using photorefractive two-wave mixing in a strontium barium niobate (Sr(x)Ba(1-x)Nb(2)O(6)) crystal in conjunction with a self-pumped barium titanate (BaTiO(3)) phase conjugator, we have demonstrated the cleanup of a phase-distorted laser beam. A clean seed beam is amplified by the phase-aberrated pump beam through the photorefractive two-wave mixing process. The optical phase conjugation is used to eliminate the phase aberration introduced by the photorefractive gain medium.