Transition from convective to absolute Raman instability via the longitudinal relativistic effect by using Vlasov-Maxwell simulations

The longitudinal relativistic effect on stimulated Raman backscattering (SRBS) is investigated by using one-dimensional (1D) Vlasov-Maxwell simulations. Using a short backscattered light seed pulse with a very small amplitude, the linear gain spectra of SRBS in the strongly convective regime is presented by combining the relativistic and non-relativistic 1D Vlasov-Maxwell simulations, which is in agreement with the steady-state linear theory. More interestingly, by considering transition from convective to absolute instability due to electron trapping, we successfully predict the critical duration of the seed which can just trigger the kinetic inflation of the excited SRBS after the seed leaves the simulation box. The critical duration in the relativistic case is much shorter than that in the nonrelativistic case, which indicates that the kinetic inflation more easily occurs in the relativistic case than in the nonrelativistic case. In the weakly convective regime, the transition from convective to absolu...