Abstract

The study of Rayleigh light scattering is interesting not only for its applications such as phase conjugation but also as a way to explore the interactions between matter and light. Recently a large spectral bandwidth stimulated scattering from CS₂ has been investigated in bulk,^1-3 liquid hollow-core fibers,^2,3 and micro- drops.^4,5 However, despite all the results and explanations, one question remains: the origin of such a large spectral broadening mostly because several physical processes are involved simultaneously in the scattering. We discuss the role of self- focusing and phase modulation on the large spectral bandwidth stimulated Rayleigh-wing scattering (SRWS).

© 1996 Optical Society of America