Influence of the absorption of hypersound on pulse-periodic operation of a stimulated Brillouin scattering mirror

Experimental observations and a theoretical investigation are reported of the influence of the heating of a nonlinear medium, associated with the absorption of hypersound excited in the course of stimulated BriIlouin scattering, on the pump beam crossing this medium. The results show that a thermal lens forms in front of the focal waist of the beam and that this lens distorts the spatial distribution of the intensity of the laser radiation passing through the nonlinear medium.