A statistical description of stimulated Brillouin scattering beam combination efficiency

The mutual coherence between two stimulated Brillouin signals produced by undepleted pump beams that are partially overlapped is studied. The mutual coherence of the stimulated-Brillouin-scattered beams determines the efficiency with which the two beams can be combined. The statistical properties of the mutual coherence are calculated. The mechanism for coupling of two stimulated-Brillouin-scattering outputs is four-wave mixing. Mutual coherence is found to depend on the pump beam's pulse duration, the medium's phonon lifetime, and the degree of overlap between the laser pump beams.<
>