Based upon the hydrodynamic model of an one-component semiconductor plasma,
a detailed analytical study of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) proce
sses in a doped weakly piezoelectric semiconductor has been made following
the coupled mode approach. The nonlinear effective polarization and the cor
responding third-order optical susceptibility at Stokes frequency for the S
BS processes are obtained. The analysis deals with the qualitative behavior
of threshold pump electric field required for the onset of SBS and the Bri
llouin gain with respect to the doping concentration well above threshold.
Numerical analysis has been made for n-type InSb crystal duly irradiated by
a nanosecond pulsed 10.6 mum CO2 laser. The influence of piezoelectric pro
perties of the crystal medium on both threshold pump field and Brillouin ga
in has been explored and it is found that SBS with significant gain at lowe
r threshold pump field could be achieved in the weakly piezoelectric modera
tely doped n-type semiconductor. The Brillouin gain is noted to be signific
antly large only over a very narrow doping range. The theoretical analysis
shows that the doped III-V semiconductors have a good potentiality in the f
abrication of SBS based phase conjugate mirrors with high reflectivity well
below the optical damage threshold.