Observations of Brillouin Sidescatter in Laser-Produced Plasmas

This experiment shows that scattering of light in laser-illuminated spherical targets at up to 56^∘{} was dominated by the stimulated Brillouin process. The energy and spectrum of both sidescattered and backscattered light were measured. When a target was irradiated by a one-beam Nd: glass laser (λL=1.054 {μ}m) with a shaped pulse at an intensity of 7×{}10¹⁵ W/cm², the stimulated Brillouin sidescatter contained up to 55% of the incident energy.