APS » PROLA » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 84 » Issue 14

Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 3089 - 3092 (2000)

Modification of Spatial and Temporal Gains of Stimulated Brillouin and Raman Scattering by Polarization Smoothing

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J. Fuchs1, C. Labaune1, S. Depierreux1, H. A. Baldis2, and A. Michard1
1Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-École Polytechnique-CEA-Université Paris VI, École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France
2Institute for Laser Science and Applications (ILSA), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550

Received 7 December 1999

Significant reductions of stimulated Brillouin (SBS) and Raman (SRS) scattering are measured by adding polarization smoothing (PS) to a random phase plate smoothed beam. The associated plasma waves, as measured by Thomson scattering, are spatially and temporally modified and reveal that the interplay between SBS and SRS has to be taken into account to understand the effect of the smoothing. The results also support the numerical simulations [S. Hüller et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 2706 (1998); R. Berger et al., Phys. Plasmas 6, 1043 (1999)] predicting a reduction of self-focusing with PS, resulting in a decrease of the maximum laser intensity and consequently of SBS and SRS gains.


©2000 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v84/p3089
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.3089
PACS: 52.40.Nk, 52.35.Fp, 52.35.Mw, 52.70.Kz

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