Chapter 9 - Stimulated Brillouin and Stimulated Rayleigh Scattering

Abstract

This chapter presents a study on stimulated light scattering resulting from induced density variations of a material system. The chapter discusses the basic concepts associated with stimulated Brillouin and stimulated Rayleigh scattering. A light-scattering process is said to be stimulated if the fluctuations are induced by the presence of the light field. Stimulated light scattering is typically more efficient than spontaneous light scattering. The chapter demonstrates that when the intensity of the incident light is sufficiently large, essentially 100% of a beam of light can be scattered in a 1-cm path as the result of stimulated scattering processes. The chapter presents a theoretical model that can treat both stimulated Brillouin and stimulated Rayleigh scattering. These two effects can conveniently be treated together because they both entail the scattering of light from inhomogeneities in thermodynamic quantities. The chapter explains electrostriction process as the tendency of materials to become compressed in the presence of an electric field. Electrostriction is of interest both as a mechanism leading to a third-order nonlinear optical response and as a coupling mechanism that leads to stimulated Brillouin scattering.