Intracavity nearly degenerate four-wave mixing in a (GaAl)As semiconductor laser

Abstract

Intracavity nearly degenerate four-wave mixing has been demonstrated by injecting a low intensity probe beam of frequency ω−δω inside a (GaAl)As semiconductor laser operating above threshold at the pump frequency ω. Conjugated reflectivities as high as 5000 together with a 25% energy conversion efficiency are reported with only a few milliwatt pump power. Additional peaks related to the ac stark effect have been observed at a detuning which depended on the pump power. This process could be useful for the study of instabilities occurring in lasers as well as for optical amplification in laser diodes.