On the improvement of broadband stimulated Brillouin scattering reflectors

Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) of unmodified XeCl laser radiation in n‐hexane was investigated for building phase‐conjugating mirrors. It was found that the SBS mirror reflectivity could be improved by setting a holographic grating in front of the SBS mirror and by using the first order beam reflected by the grating to pump the Brillouin medium. Maximum energy and power reflectivities of 45% and 80%, respectively, were measured. The SBS mirror energy reflectivity was reduced by 45% by removing the grating. The phase conjugation fidelity of the backscattered radiation was close to one, with or without the grating.