Stimulated Raman and Brillouin backscattering of collimated beams carrying orbital angular momentum

Abstract

We study theoretically the exchange of angular momentum between electromagnetic and electrostatic waves in a plasma, due to the stimulated Raman and Brillouin backscattering processes. Angular momentum states for plasmon and phonon fields are introduced for the first time. We demonstrate that these states can be excited by nonlinear wave mixing, associated with the scattering processes. This could be relevant for plasma diagnostics, both in laboratory and in space. Nonlinearly coupled paraxial equations and instability growth rates are derived.