Brillouin-enhanced four-wave mixing and phase conjugation in a plasma

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860723· OSTI ID:6232797

Domier, C W; Luhmann, Jr, N C ^[1]

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1. School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024 (United States)

Detailed experimental investigations of Brillouin-enhanced four-wave mixing (BEFWM) and phase conjugation of microwaves in an unmagnetized plasma have been performed. Through the use of plasma probes and energy analyzers together with a millimeter-wave interferometer/scattering system, both the transient and steady-state responses of the plasma and the phase conjugate wave have been investigated. Low-power, low-density operation is shown to agree well with two-fluid plasma theory. Strong suppression of the BEFWM interaction is observed at an electron density [ital n][sub [ital e]][approx][ital n][sub [ital c]]/4, indicative of the 2[omega][sub [ital pe]] instability. High-power, high-density operation is seen to deviate from simple theoretical predictions; slight amounts of plasma pushed out of the interaction region by the ponderomotive force of the high-power pump waves are observed to disrupt the relative phases of the electromagnetic waves involved in the BEFWM interaction.

• OSTI ID: 6232797
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (United States) Vol. 5:7; ISSN 0899-8221; ISSN PFBPEI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700350* -- Plasma Production
Heating
Current Drive
& Interactions-- (1992-)
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
BRILLOUIN EFFECT
COHERENT SCATTERING
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON DENSITY
MICROWAVE RADIATION
NONLINEAR OPTICS
OPTICS
RADIATIONS
SCATTERING