A new technique for estimating the density scale-length of laser produced plasmas

The variation of frequency shift for stimulated Raman sidescattered radiation has been calculated theoretically as a function of the laser intensity, the density scale-length and the plasma electron temperature for a 1.06 μm laser produced plasma. Although this variation depends on all three parameters, the dependence is very strong on the density scale-length in the domain of 1 to 100 μm. On the basis of this strong dependence, a new technique for estimating the density scale-length is proposed. (author). Letter-to-the-editor. 18 refs, 3 figs