Stimulated Brillouin scattering in inhomogeneous flowing plasma

The threshold, growth rate, and convective amplification of stimulated Brillouin scattering are found in an inhomogeneous flowing plasma for obliquely incident laser light. Absolutely unstable modes exist for special combinations of wave vectors that correspond to forward scattering in a supersonically flowing plasma. Some of the analysis is shown to apply to stimulated Raman scattering at a density extrema. For parameters of interest to laser fusion, these thresholds are lower than for stimulated backscattering in a density gradient.