Stimulated Brillouin scattering in Kerr filamentation regimes

Abstract

The coupling between Kerr filamentation and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is investigated for nanosecond laser pulses propagating in bulk silica. Phase modulated pulses with moderate spectral bandwidth may not prevent backscattering. We demonstrate the existence of a critical bandwidth above which SBS is efficiently suppressed at any pump power.