Influence of transient phonon relaxation on the Brillouin loss spectrum of nanosecond pulses

Abstract

For pump-probe stimulated Brillouin scattering with a probe pulse of a few nanoseconds duration and with a finite DC level, the acoustic wave relaxation time varies with the pump power and the DC level. For a pump power of 1-6 mW, the acoustic wave relaxation changes from approximately 9 to 90 ns for polarization-maintaining fiber at a temperature of -40 degrees C for a 2 ns pulse width. When the pulse DC ratio of the probe varies from 10 to 20 dB, the acoustic relaxation time changes from 24 to 45 ns for single-mode fiber at 25 degrees C. This induces a power-increment spectral feature in the detected AC pump signal in the Brillouin loss spectrum of two temperature or strain sections, where both spectral components appeared at positions far from those related to the natural phonon relaxation time (approximately 10 ns) equivalent length. The theoretical calculations confirm the prolonged phonon relaxation.