Suppression of stimulated Raman scattering by the seeding of stimulated Brillouin scattering in a laser-produced plasma

Abstract

By seeding of an ion wave by means of optical mixing, it was possible totally to suppress stimulated Raman scattering in a laser plasma. A counterpropagating seed beam with 1% of the intensity of the main beam was sufficient. A novel frequency-- and wave-number--resolved image of the Thomson-scattered plasma-wave spectrum was used to shed light on the competition between stimulated Raman scattering and stimulated Brillouin scattering.