STIMULATED SCATTERING OF RELATIVISTICALLY STRONG RADIATION FROM AN UNDERDENSE PLASMA AT HIGH-FREQUENCY HARMONICS

The theory of stimulated scattering of relativistically strong, arbitr arily polarized laser radiation from an underdense plasma is developed . It is shown that, in addition to the scattering at the near-carrier frequency, the scattering at the odd and even high-frequency harmonics can occur ina wide range of angles. The growth rates of the instabili ty associated with the harmonic generation are obtained as functions o f the scattering angle. It is shown that, at certain directions, the g rowth rates for higher harmonics can exceed the growth rate for the fu ndamental harmonic. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.