ducing high excitations.The magnitude of the cross sections anticipated is large. Detailed calculations are in progress, but we expect the differential fission cross section for scattering of the projectile into the backward direction to be the Coulomb differential cross section times a factor which involves the initial orientation of the target (and varies from 0 at threshold to perhaps the order of fa or 1/100). The Coulomb cross section is (d/4) 2 . We are in the range ~1 mb/sr. (This assumes adiabaticity.)Specifically, we propose experiments which involve (1) even-even targets such as Th 232 and U 238 ; (2) the heaviest projectiles available at variable energies exceeding estimate (4);(3) coincidence of fission with the scattering of the projectile, particularly into the backward direction; (4) observation of the fission fragment angular distribution, which we expect to peak at 90° in the center-of-mass frame; (5) comparison of various fission characteristics, such as mass distribution, kinetic energy, etc., with other methods of inducing the reaction; and (6) measurement of projectile energy loss. Not all of these items are essential to a useful experiment.We have learned 6 subsequent to the preparation of this note that an experiment on Coulomb fission (Ar 40 on U 238 ) has been undertaken by T. Sikkeland at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, following a suggestion by A. Winther, who has considered some of these questions.There is a great deal of theoretical 1 " 4 and experimental 5 " 7 investigation about the statistical nature of a single-mode laser field, and the most-used model has been that of an amplitude-stabilized sine wave with a slowly varying random phase E 0 cos[