Stimulated Brillouin scattering at high values of the excess of the pump energy above the threshold

An experimental investigation was made of the efficiency of reflection and of the precision of wavefront reversal in the case of saturation of stimulated Brillouin scattering (STBS) competing with other nonlinear processes. It was found that the maximum pump power reaching STBS mirrors made of glasses and quartz was limited by the breakdown of the scattering medium and in some cases such breakdown occurred only in the scattering saturation regime. A study was made of an STBS oscillator–amplifier system in which such breakdown was suppressed so that the pump energy could be increased. Methods for widening the dynamic range of STBS mirrors were investigated.