Role of light-induced scattering in the optical limitation of laser radiation on the basis of fullerene-containing media

A theoretical and experimental study of the contribution of light-induced s cattering to nonlinear optical limitation is made. It is shown that light-i nduced scattering makes a considerable contribution to the optical limitati on of radiation by fullerene-containing solutions. Radiation is scattered b y small-scale (1-10 mum) inhomogeneities of density, and the corresponding increments are rather large. Because of this, scattering can be initiated b y small-scale inhomogeneities of the input beam. Numerical simulation of no nlinear scattering is made, and the angular distribution and limitation of radiation in optical limiters are calculated. The calculation results are c ompared with the experiment. (C) 2001 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".