Stimulated Brillouin Scattering: Fundamentals and Applications

by M J Damzen, V Vlad, Anca Mocofanescu, V Babin

Overview

Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is the most important example of a stimulated scattering process-light scattering that occurs when the intensity of the light field itself affects the propagating medium. A phenomenon that has been known of for some 35 years in solid state laser research, it has recently become relevant in the optical fiber industry, due to the increasing intensity required in optical fiber cores (and their long interaction lengths). SBS is one of the major limiting factors on the amount of power that can be transmitted via an optical fiber.

This book describes the underlying physics of SBS, much of which are applicable to other fields of research, including, to some extent, plasma physics. It provides references to experimental details throughout. Later chapters investigate more advanced concepts and feature the problems faced by researchers using optical fibers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367578480
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Series:	Series in Optics and Optoelectronics
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

M J Damzen, V Vlad, Anca Mocofanescu, V Babin

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 Spontaneous and stimulated scattering of light 1

1.1 Spontaneous scattering process 3

1.2 Brillouin scattering of light 4

1.3 Raman scattering of light 5

1.4 Stimulated scattering process 6

1.5 Wave equation and nonlinear polarization 9

1.6 Theoretical formulation of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) 10

1.7 Stimulated temperature Brillouin scattering 14

1.8 Comparison of SRS and SBS 14

References 16

2 Materials for SBS 17

2.1 The choice of SBS materials and SBS properties 17

2.2 Acoustic attenuation mechanisms in polyatomic gases 21

2.3 Determination of SBS properties in gases 23

2.3.1 Xenon 26

2.3.2 Sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) 27

2.3.3 Chlorotrifluoromethane (CCIF₃) 29

2.3.4 Hexafluoroethane (C₂F₆) 30

2.3.5 Liquid CCIF₃ 31

2.4 Determination of SBS properties of liquid materials 33

2.5 Determination of the Brillouin linewidth, frequency and gain coefficient in solid materials 34

2.6 Conclusions 36

References 36

3 Solutions of the one-dimensional SBS model 39

3.1 The steady-state regime 39

3.1.1 Laser pump depletion included, absorption neglected 39

3.1.2 Laser intensity undepleted, absorption included 42

3.2 Transient plane-wave solutions 42

3.3 Numerical solutions 43

3.4 Solving one-dimensional SBS using the characteristic equations 44

3.5 Laser pulse compression by SBS 48

3.6 Stochastic processes in the solution of SBS equations 50

3.7 The experimental verification of the analytical results in the one-dimensional SBS model 53

3.8 Conclusions 55

References 56

4 Optical phase conjugation in SBS 58

4.1 Phase conjugation and aberration compensation 58

4.2 Optical phase conjugation by SBS 60

4.3 Experimental measurement of quality of phase conjugation 63

4.3.1 Visual assessment and angular spectrum techniques 63

4.3.2 Interferometric methods 66

4.4 Polarization properties of SBS phase conjugation 67

4.5 Thermally-induced lensing and depolarization in laser amplifiers 69

4.6 Vector phase conjugation of depolarized radiation via SBS 71

References 73

5 Solutions of the three-dimensional SBS model 75

5.1 SBS model with a spatial Gaussian pump beam 76

5.2 A three-dimensional model for non-stationary SBS and numerical results 82

References 90

6 Brillouin-enhanced four-wave mixing (BEFWM) 92

6.1 The BEFWM interaction geometry 92

6.2 Theoretical model of BEFWM 94

6.2.1 Coupled equations characterizing BEFWM 94

6.3 Polarization-decoupled BEFWM theory 95

6.3.1 Steady-state and constant pump analysis 96

6.3.2 Transient polarization-decoupled BEFWM 99

6.4 Experimental investigations on polarization-decoupled BEFWM 100

6.5 Scattering efficiency and noise 106

6.6 Experiments and results in BEFWM for high-resolution imaging 106

References 110

7 Techniques for enhancement of SBS 112

7.1 Optical feedback used to enhance stimulated scattering 113

7.2 Optical feedback from a beamsplitter (ring resonator) 113

7.3 Optical feedback using angular offset 118

7.4 Two-cell SBS system 121

7.4.1 Theoretical predictions of two-cell SBS 122

7.4.2 Experimental results 123

7.5 Laser beam combining using SBS 128

7.5.1 Laser beam combining using spatial overlap in SBS 128

7.5.2 Laser beam combining using back-injection of a Stokes seed 129

7.5.3 Laser beam combining using BEFWM 129

7.6 Laser pulse compression by backward SBS 130

7.7 Conclusions 134

References 135

8 SBS in optical fibres 137

8.1 Phase conjugation by SBS in optical fibres 137

8.2 Theoretical model of phase conjugation by SBS in optical fibres 139

8.3 Experiments and results in phase conjugation by SBS in optical fibres 141

8.4 SBS in optical communications 146

8.4.1 Harmful SBS effects in optical communication systems 147

8.4.2 Beneficial SBS applications to optical communication systems 150

8.5 Conclusions 152

References 152

9 Laser resonators with SBS mirrors 155

9.1 SBS phase conjugate lasers 155

9.2 Linear laser resonator with internal SBS cell 157

9.3 Linear laser resonator with external SBS mirror 157

9.4 Ring laser resonator with SBS mirror 158

9.5 Theoretical modelling of passive Q-switching in SBS resonators 160

9.6 Correction of aberration in laser amplifiers 163

9.7 Pulsed MOPA systems with SBS mirrors 164

9.8 Continuously pumped MOPA systems with SBS mirrors 168

9.9 Conclusions 170

References 171

10 Optical solitons in SBS 173

10.1 Optical solitons 173

10.2 Optical solitons in SBS 175

10.3 Compensation solitons in non-stationary SBS process 180

10.4 Topological solitons in SBS media with very low dispersion and absorption 185

10.5 Concluding remarks 188

References 189

Appendix Averaging the Gaussian process describing the noise in SBS 191

Index 194

Editorial Reviews

"This book elegantly separates spontaneous Brillouin scattering from stimulated Brillouin scattering…"
-Optics & Photonics, October 2005

From the Publisher