Evidence of Parametric Decay and Brillouin Backscatter Excited by a CO2Laser

Abstract
Experimental measurements of the scattered infrared emission in the vicinity of 10 μm are presented. The shape and power dependence of the backscattered spectrum indicates the presence of the Brillouin backscatter instability. The sidebands on the side-scattered radiation are found to be strongest for emission perpendicular to the electric field vector of the incident radiation. This is interpreted as being the result of the parametric decay instability.