The Evolution of Light Scattering as a Plasma Diagnostic

Abstract

This paper is prepared as a tribute to Professor H.-J. Kunze on the occasion of his retirement. It attempts to track the early development of light scattering diagnostics of plasmas, a field in which Prof. Kunze played an important part, starting with the first paper showing that plas a scattering of light could be observed in the laboratory, and continuing through his any studies of fundamental atomic processes in plasmas made possible by the application of the technique. We consider in detail laser scattering progress reported up to the early 1970's, but we can only touch on some of the main points of work since then, and inevitably leave out other important developments. We exclude from this discussion laser-induced fluorescence, Raman and far-forward (Raman-Nath) scattering, the opportunities offered by IR and sub-mm lasers, and scattering from laser-produced plasmas.