MODELING OF A STIMULATED BRILLOUIN-SCATTERING EXPERIMENT WITH STATISTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SPECKLES

The results of experimental studies of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) from a laser beam smoothed with a random phase plate (RPP) in a preformed expanding plasma are compared with the statistical theory o f SBS from an inhomogeneous plasma. Many observed features can be expl ained assuming that SBS occurs in randomly distributed speckles. This hypothesis naturally combines observed pump depletion effects within a speckle, with relatively minor SBS reflectivity of the whole interact ion beam. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.