Raman scattering phase-coherent excitation

In order to extend the range of 2laser excitation, both CARS (Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering) and CSRS (Coherent Stokes Raman Scattering) are used. In both cases <03 = 2003 -U2 In the CARS mode 0)3 > wj > (03 in the CSRS mode <02 > (1)3. One-photon resonance effects are the same in both cases as described later. Phase matching is also the same in both cases with 3 = 2 ... 

If J" —> J excitation is accompanied or followed by deexcitation J —> J" in a stimulated emission process (SEP), then the population efficiency of the level can be increased considerably. It is now known [248, 347] that the process might be made more effective by applying the A-configuration scheme in which the first-step (J" — J ) excitation pulse is applied after the second-step (J — J") pulse which, at first glance, seems surprising. This process is called stimulated Raman scattering by delayed pulses (STIRAP). The population transfer here takes place coherently and includes coordination of the Rabi nutation phase in both transitions. 

Figure 1 Schematic representation of a time-resolved coherent Raman experiment, (a) The excitation of the vibrational level is accomplished by a two-photon process the laser (L) and Stokes (S) photons are represented by vertical arrows. The wave vectors of the two pump fields determine the wave vector of the coherent excitation, kv. (b) At a later time the coherent probing process involving again two photons takes place the probe pulse and the anti-Stokes scattering are denoted by subscripts P and A, respectively. The scattering signal emitted under phase-matching conditions is a measure of the coherent excitation at the probing time, (c) Four-photon interaction scheme for the generation of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering of the vibrational transition.

When a femtosecond laser pulse passes through nearly any medium, coherent vibrational excitation (in general, initiation of coherent wavepacket propagation) is likely [33, 34]. One- or two-photon absorption of a visible or ultraviolet pulse into an electronic excited state can result in phase-coherent motion in the excited-state potential [35]. Impulsive stimulated Raman scattering can initiate phase-coherent vibrational motion in the electronic... 

In this contribution we present two laser spectroscopic methods that use coherent resonance Raman scattering to detect rf-or laser -induced Hertzian coherence phenomena in the gas phase these novel coherent double resonance techniques for optical heterodyne detection of sublevel coherence clearly extend the above mentioned previous methods using incoherent light sources. In the case of Doppler broadened optical transitions new signal features appear as a result of velocity-selective optical excitation caused by the narrow-bandwidth laser. We especially analyze the potential and the limitations of the new detection schemes for the study of collision effects in double resonance spectroscopy. In particular, the effect of collisional velocity changes on the Hertzian resonances will be investigated. 

The Raman scattering (which is called resonance fluorescence when the final molecular state is identical to the initial one g)) is not, however, the only process resulting in spontaneous photon emission. If one repeats the above treatment in a density matrix formalism and allows for intermediate state dephasing, one obtains, for resonant excitation, a fluorescence contribution. In practice, in this case the doorway state is really (not virtually) excited and becomes populated for a significant time interval, as pointed out by Lee and Heller. The system becomes then sensitive to any phase-disturbing perturbation. As a consequence, due to dephasing, the scattering is no more a purely coherent two-photon process, and the Raman emission competes with a relaxed component which is usually called fluorescence. The fluorescence is then simply the spontaneous emission from populated excited states, which have completely lost the memory of the... 

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