Laser light backscatter from intermediate and high Z plasmas

In experiments at the Omega Laser Facility [J. M. Soures et al., Fusion Technol. 30, 492 (1996)], stimulated Brillouin backscatter (SBS) from gasbags filled with krypton and xenon gases was ten times lower than from CO2-filled gasbags with similar electron densities. The SBS backscatter was a 1%–5% for both 527 and 351nm interaction beams at an intensity of ∼1015W∕cm2. The SRS backscatter was less than 1%. The 351nm interaction beam is below the threshold for filamentation and the SBS occurs in the density plateau between the blast waves. Inverse bremsstrahlung absorption of the incident and SBS light account for the lower reflectivity from krypton than from CO2. The 527nm interaction beam filaments in the blowoff plasma before the beam propagates through the blast wave, where it is strongly absorbed. Thus, most of the 527nm SBS occurs in the flowing plasma outside the blast waves.