A cw degenerate phase conjugate resonator (PCR) with intracavity aero-optic turbulent flow is demonstrated using sodium vapor pumped with a low intensity cw laser. A turbulent helium jet at a high flow velocity of 250 m/s and forcing frequency of 18 kHz generated the spatio-temporal aberrations. The intracavity normalized peak-to-peak intensity fluctuations at 18 kHz measured with a pinhole-detector are ten times smaller in the corrected beam than in the aberrated beam. The threshold pump intensity for the resonator is ~4.5 W/cm2 in the absence of the turbulent flow. The pump frequency is tuned well within the Doppler width of the Na D1 transition. Evidence of a degenerate (laboratory frame) double- mechanism involving Zeeman sublevels is also shown.
