Stimulated Brillouin scattering of pulses in optical fibers

We derive analytic expressions for the Brillouin thresholds of square pulses in optical fibers. The equations are valid for pulse durations in the transient Brillouin scattering regime (less than 100 nsec), as well for longer pulses, and have been confirmed experimentally. Our analysis also gives a firm theoretical prediction that the Brillouin gain width increases dramatically for intense pulses, from tens of MHz to one GHz or more.