Theory of stimulated concentration scattering of light in a liquid suspension of transparent microspheres

Abstract

A theory of stimulated light scattering in a nonlinear liquid suspension of transparent microspheres—an artificially created medium whose nonlinearity is caused by modulation of the concentration of microspheres by gradient forces in a field of spatially inhomogeneous laser radiation—is constructed. The threshold, angular, and spectral characteristics of the scattering are studied in the diffusion-limit approximation based on the solution of the system of wave equations in combination with the Planck-Nernst two-dimensional equation for the concentration of microspheres. The transient regime of scattering in the field of a specified step-like pump pulse is considered. A sharp angular dependence of the scattering efficiency on the microsphere radius is predicted and proposed for use in optical diagnostics of liquid suspensions of dielectric microspheres—highly efficient wideband nonlinear media.