Measurements of absorption and Brillouin sidescattering from planar plasmas produced by 0.53 μm laser light

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Abstract
A study of the absorption and scattering of laser light by planar, laser‐produced plasmas is reported. Up to 4 kJ of 0.53 μm laser light irradiated thick, gold targets in 1 nsec pulses at intensities up to 4×1015 W/cm2. The absorption was determined from measurements of the scattered light by an array of about 100 detectors. Stimulated Brillouin sidescattering, identified by the angular distribution and spectrum of the scattered light, exceeded 10% of the laser energy for intensities above 1015 W/cm2. The observations are compared to those of previously reported experiments. It is suggested that a combination of collisional absorption, enhanced backscattering, and convective sidescattering produces the observed dependence on laser intensity.