Narrow Raman spectra: the competition between collisional and Landau damping

Narrow Raman spectra can be produced when the collisional damping rate becomes comparable to the homogeneous growth rate for stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). Landau damping limits the SRS spectrum at short wavelength, and collisional damping can limit it at long wavelength through the variation of the damping rate with plasma density. Data are shown to demonstrate this effect for the first time, from experiments in which constant‐intensity pulses of 0.35 μm light irradiated 3 μm thick CH targets at intensities up to 2×1014 W/cm2. The observed spectra have a peak wavelength, spectral width, spectral shape, and shift of the peak in time that are consistent with the anticipated effects of damping. Reduction of the emission from the plasma to near thermal levels at heavily damped frequencies is also demonstrated. In addition, the application of two specific models of SRS to these data is discussed.

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