Spontaneous and backward stimulated Raman scattering of light in methane

The initial phase of development of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in the backward direction in compressed methane (the excess of the SRS intensity over the signal of spontaneous scattering in the experiment is ～100) has been studied theoretically and experimentally. The theory, developed on the basis of simple assumptions about the mechanism of SRS formation from spontaneous scattering, shows good agreement with experiment. The implicit consideration of backward SRS is shown to be significant for the conditions of depletion of the pump energy due to its continuous loss in the medium and conversion into SRS.