Scattering noise reduction in phase conjugators via photo-induced density redistribution in atomic vapors

Investigates the noise due to Rayleigh scattering and its reduction via the spatial redistribution of atoms due to the standing wave pattern of the pump beams. For operation near the resonance, the interaction of the induced atomic dipole with the optical field leads to a periodic potential for the atoms due to the interference standing wave pattern. An assumption of the Boltzmann distribution yields a periodic distribution of the number density of atoms. In the paper, we investigate the effect of detuning and saturation on the noise due to Rayleigh scattering and address the issue of signal to noise ratio in nonlinear optical phase conjugation. We also investigate the minimum incident intensity needed to achieve a signal to noise ratio of one (S/N=1)