Abstract

The stochastic nature of initial stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) can lead to a deep modulation of Stokes intensity in fibers, even under conditions of strong pump depletion. It is known that at a moderate pump depletion, when parameter T₁/T₂ ≫ 1 (T₁ is the light propagation time through the effective amplification length and T₂ is the hypersound relaxation time), fluctuations correspond to the Gaussian statistics of temporal field distribution. As T₁/T₂ → 1 the statistics of fluctuations can change. Gaeta and Boyd¹ were the first to show that at a sufficient pump depletion (by our estimate, parameter T₁/T₂ in Ref. 1 was ~4) the correlation function of the Stokes intensity c(τ) = (〈I(t)I(t + τ)〉 - 〈I(t))²)/(/(t)〉² differs from the Gaussian by a more rapid initial fall and the presence of the region in which it is negative.

© 1995 Optical Society of America