Effect of an Optical Breakdown on the Stimulated Raman Scattering in Water in the Field of Picosecond Laser Pulses

Abstract

Experiments on nonstationary stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of laser pulses and an optical breakdown are performed to study water samples with gas nanobubbles (bubstons) and without the bubston phase. The SRS excitation threshold in water with the bubston phase turns out to be higher than that in bubston-free water, and the optical breakdown threshold in bubston-containing water is lower than that in bubston-free water. The spectral composition of the SRS signal from bubston-free water samples is found to differ from that of bubston-containing water samples. This effect is caused by the formation of long-lived high-molecular H2O complexes near the bubston surface, which are stabilized by the dispersion forces acting from this surface. Since these complexes are located inside 1–2 monolayers adjacent to the surface, the volume density of these complexes is negligibly small as compared to the density of “free” (not bound to bubstons) molecules. To interpret the experimental results, we advance a hypothesis that the detected effect is related to the giant enhancement caused by the generation of a resonance plasmon inside a bubston during an optical breakdown. As follows from our estimates, the bubston-related plasma frequency falls in the range 2600–3200 cm–1; it is this range that contains the SRS spectral lines of water containing the bubston phase.