Abstract

Recently there has grown a renewed interest in the forward-scattering phenomena. Most of the investigations in forward scattering have dealt with the processes involved in the creation of the measured signals. Calculated signal shapes that are in agreement with the measured ones have been derived using appropriate theoretical models.^[1,2,3] Here we report on investigations where the transverse intensity distribution of the laser beam has been considered. Our findings show that Gaussian laser beams may easily induce forward-scattered light distributions that have ring shaped dark and bright structures. We investigate these ring structure dependencies on the incoming light intensity, the applied magnetic field strength and the detuning of the laser frequency. We also examine the consequences of the ring structures on the integrated forward-scattered light intensity.

© 1992 IQEC