Scattering of light waves by electron electrostatic waves in laser produced plasmas

The propagation of light waves in an underdense plasma is studied using one-dimensional Vlasov–Maxwell numerical simulation. It is found that the light waves can be scattered by electron plasma waves as well as other heavily and weakly damping electron wave modes, corresponding to stimulated Raman and Brilluoin-like scatterings. The stimulated electron acoustic wave scattering is also observed as a high scattering level. High frequency plasma wave scattering is also observed. These electron electrostatic wave modes are due to a non-thermal electron distribution produced by the wave–particle interactions. The collision effects on stimulated electron acoustic wave and the laser intensity effects on the scattering spectra are also investigated.