Consequence of filamentation on stimulated Raman scattering

Abstract
In a plasma with long density scale length, a laser beam breaks up into a number of filaments, each having a size acp. The process of stimulated Raman scattering in these filaments involves a backscattered light wave of radial extent ∼a and a Langmuir wave of extent b∼(aλD)1/2a. The strong localization of the interaction region tends to severely suppress the growth rate. However, the filamentation‐induced enhancement of pump intensity opposes this effect. At power densities of a few times 1014 W/cm2 at 1 μ filamentation does not seem to have a strong effect on stimulated Raman scattering.