Measurement of the stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering instability

Thomas J. Karr; Michael C. Rushford; John R. Murray; James R. Morris

doi:10.1117/12.18351

1 May 1990 Measurement of the stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering instability

Thomas J. Karr, Michael C. Rushford, John R. Murray, James R. Morris

Proceedings Volume 1221, Propagation of High-Energy Laser Beams Through the Earth's Atmosphere; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.18351
Event: OE/LASE '90, 1990, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

We report the first clear experimental demonstration of large amplification of smallscale spatial perturbations by stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering (STRS) of a CW laser beam propagating through an absorbing medium in a context normally associated with thermal blooming. A single-mode argon-ion laser beam with = 488 nm was propagated vertically downward through a 1 .2 m cell filled with CC14 that was doped with an absorber to have optical depths in the range 0.5-2.3 . A shear-plate interlerometer near the cell input generated the perturbation. Fringe growth was rapid and visually obvious, as was competing growth from dust specks, etc. The measured growth rate is in good agreement with the asymptotic rate from analytic STRS theory.

Citation Download Citation

Thomas J. Karr, Michael C. Rushford, John R. Murray, and James R. Morris "Measurement of the stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering instability", Proc. SPIE 1221, Propagation of High-Energy Laser Beams Through the Earth's Atmosphere, (1 May 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.18351

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