Abstract

We demonstrate the efficient modulation of an $\sim 100$-femtosecond pulse in a Raman medium coherently prepared by nanosecond pulses. Raman sidebands of the ultrashort pulse spanning 360 THz are generated with an efficiency of $>5\%$. We show that the mechanism permitting the sidebands to be generated is the preparation of a significant vibrational coherence in the medium that is robust to disturbance by an intense short pulse. If the observed sidebands were phase compensated, they would form a short train of approximately ten 3-fs pulses. Focusing would permit the realization of a peak intensity of $>{10}^{13} \mathrm{W} {\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$.

© 2005 Optical Society of America

High-order stimulated Raman scattering in a highly transient regime driven by a pair of ultrashort pulses

Emiliano Sali, Kirstie J. Mendham, John W. G. Tisch, Thomas Halfmann, and Jon P. Marangos
Opt. Lett. 29(5) 495-497 (2004)

Rotational Raman generation with near-unity conversion efficiency

D. D. Yavuz, D. R. Walker, G. Y. Yin, and S. E. Harris
Opt. Lett. 27(9) 769-771 (2002)

Efficient generation of short terahertz pulses via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage

Nikolai G. Kalugin and Yuri V. Rostovtsev
Opt. Lett. 31(7) 969-971 (2006)

Subfemtosecond pulse generation and multiplicative increase of pulse spacing in high-order stimulated Raman scattering

Jian Wu and Heping Zeng
Opt. Lett. 28(12) 1052-1054 (2003)

Subfemtosecond compression of periodic laser pulses

A. V. Sokolov
Opt. Lett. 24(17) 1248-1250 (1999)