Storage and phase conjugation of light pulses using stimulated photon echoes.

We experimentally demonstrate that three-excitation-pulse (i.e., stimulated) photon echo signals can be backward-propagating, phase-conjugate replicas of the second echo-excitation pulse. Working on the 555.6-nm absorption line of atomic Yb vapor, echo signals, effectively 0.5% as intense as the second excitation pulse, are shown to reproduce image information carried by the second excitation pulse even when wave-front distorters are employed.