Stimulated scattering of light by ion modes in a homogeneous plasma: Space-time evolution

Stimulated Brillouin scattering, filamentation, and induced Thomson scattering are studied for a coherent electromagnetic plane wave propagating in a uniform plasma. A generalized Green’s function is found that describes the impulse response for stimulated scattering by electron and ion modes. Explicit asymptotic Green’s functions are calculated for those parametric instabilities involving ion modes or quasi-modes. Special attention is given to whether the instabilities are convective or absolute. For a traveling wave pump in a uniform plasma, Brillouin and induced Thomson backscatter can be absolute, but sidescatter is convective; filamentation of traveling waves is always convective. Spatial growth rates are calculated for convectively unstable modes. Finally, the competition of filamentation and stimulated Brillouin scattering is considered for parameters typical of real laser-fusion experiments.