Higher-order modes of phase conjugate resonators.

A numerical analysis based on the Prony algorithm was carried out to find the higher-order modes of phase conjugate optical resonators with hard-edged apertures. The mode patterns are nearly Hermite-Gaussians even for unstable resonator configurations. This indicates that there is not a phase conjugate analog of conventional unstable resonators. The eigenvalues and the extent to which the phase fronts match the surface of the conventional mirror were also calculated for a variety of resonator parameters. When there is one limiting aperture in the resonator and all others (including the phase conjugating mirror) can be considered as unbound, the eigenvalues and phase matching parameter are scalable by the ratio g/N, where N is the Fres-nel number of the aperture and g = 1 - L/R as in conventional resonator theory.