Generation of a continuum and stimulated Raman scattering harmonics during scattering of electromagnetic radiation of relativistic intensity

A theory of the propagation instability of plane, monochromatic, circularly polarized electromagnetic waves of relativistic intensity in matter is developed for a spatially three-dimensional geometry including arbitrary polarization of the scattered radiation. Harmonic generation owing to striction and relativistic nonlinearity is examined, as well as scattering owing to electron recoil, the decay instability of the harmonics with formation of scattered electromagnetic waves (Stokes components of the stimulated Raman scattering and plasmons), the interaction of electromagnetic waves in the plasma (antistokes stimulated Raman scattering), and the generation of a radiative continuum. The transition of the three-dimensional theory to a one-dimensional problem in the nonrelativistic limit is discussed. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 2034–2046 (June 1998)