High-efficiency stimulated Brillouin scattering of KrF laser radiation in SF(6)

Stimulated Brillouin scattering of KrF laser radiation focused in SF(6) gas at pressures of 1.4 to 9.8 atm has been studied experimentally. For an input linewidth of 0.08 cm(-1) and focal lengths of 1 and 2 m, reflectivities of 80% have been measured. Pulse compression up to peak intensities of two times the pump intensity has been achieved in a pulse that is partially phase conjugate to the pump pulse. At high pressures a short backward Raman spike was observed preceding the Brillouin backscattered signal.