Brillouin Scattering

Brillouin scattering, named after Léon Brillouin, occurs when light in a medium (such as air, water or a crystal) interacts with time-dependent optical density variations and changes its energy (frequency) and path. The density variations may be due to acoustic modes, such as phonons, magnetic modes, such as magnons, or temperature gradients. As described in classical physics, when the medium is compressed its index of refraction changes, and a fraction of the traveling light wave, interacting with the periodic refraction index variations, is deflected as in a three-dimensional diffraction grating. Since the sound wave, too, is traveling, light is also subjected to a Doppler shift, so its frequency changes.