Stimulated Brillouin backscattering (B-SBS) from delayed interaction with a preformed, long scale-length expanding plasma was experimentally investigated in a regime favorable to strong self-focusing (SF) and filamentation. An extremely low backscattering reflectivity (of the order of ${10}^{-4})$ was measured and anomalous time-resolved spectra were observed. Spectral and temporal features of the reflectivity suggest a strong effect of SF on B-SBS: In the early phase of the interaction SF lowers the B-SBS threshold and possibly leads to rapid saturation, while in the late phase there is a substantial decoupling of the SBS active regions from the plasma bulk due to their motion towards the laser beam. This motion is attributed to a moving focus effect driven by ponderomotive SF.

• Received 15 July 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.59.1038