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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Population transfer by stimulated Raman scattering with delayed pulses: the concept, some problems, and experimental demonstration

Klaas Bergmann, S. Schiemann, Andreas Kuhn

Published Apr 1, 1992• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We discuss recent progress in the attempt to gain complete control over the internal state population of atoms and molecules for collision dynamic studies and spectroscopy. We describe a method which relies on stimulated Raman scattering with pulses delayed in a counter-intuitive way. This method allows highly efficient transfer of population between atomic or molecular levels. It allows, in particular, selective population of highly excited vibrational levels.

DOI
10.1117/12.58145

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We discuss recent progress in the attempt to gain complete control over the internal state population of atoms and molecules for collision dynamic studies and spectroscopy. We describe a method which relies on stimulated Raman scattering with pulses delayed in a counter-intuitive way. This method allows highly efficient transfer of population between atomic or molecular levels. It allows, in particular, selective population of highly excited vibrational levels.
Highly efficient and selective population transfer in NO molecules in the electronic ground state (X2{\mathit{X}}^{2}X2${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Pi}}}_{1/2}$) from the vibrational level v''=0 to the level v''=6 is demonstrated. It shows, for the first time with pulsed lasers, that a rather generally applicable scheme for complete control over the level population in atoms and molecules is now available. The efficiency relies on a counterintuitive interaction sequence of two lasers with the molecule in a process of stimulated Raman scattering involving adiabatic passage.
The feasability of selective and complete population transfer between atomic or molecular levels by stimulated Raman scattering with delayed pulses involving spectrally broad light with characteristics typical for pulsed lasers is investigated. In extension of previous work, the effect on the transfer efficiency of phase fluctuations and of the detuning ΔR of the laser frequencies from the two-photon resonance is analyzed. The minimum pulse energy Pmin required to achieve a transfer efficiency of nearly unity is derived analytically, with some restrictions imposed on the type of phase fluctuations. Pmin increases approximately proportional to the square of the bandwidth of the laser radiation and to the square of ΔR. The conclusions are confirmed by the results of extensive numerical calculations. These studies also reveal a high sensitivity of the transfer efficiency to the autocorrelation of the fluctuating light.
The feasibility of a novel technique for efficient and selective population transfer from a thermally populated level 1 via an intermediate state 2 to level 3 is experimentally demonstrated. It is shown for sodium dimers that the process of on- or near-resonance stimulated Raman scattering with only partially overlapping laser beams is, in particular, useful for the selective population of high vibrational levels of particles in a molecular beam. This is achieved when the interaction with the Stokes laser, coupling levels 2 and 3, begins earlier than the interaction with the pump laser. The phenomenon, which is closely related to the formation of ‘‘trapped states,’’ is quantitatively explained using the basis of eigenstates of molecules strongly coupled to the radiation fields. The similarity and difference to related techniques such as rapid adiabatic passage phenomena in two-level systems, off-resonant stimulated Raman scattering, or stimulated emission pumping is briefly discussed.
We present results of density matrix calculations describing population transfer in a four level system via stimulated Raman scattering with three laser pulses whose frequencies are in (or nearly in) resonance with the transitions between the levels. A high degree of transfer to the terminal level is possible via transitions through the two intermediate excited levels, despite the large decay rates of both levels compared with the inverse of the laser pulse durations, provided that the pulse timing sequences are correctly adjusted. Hence multiple stimulated Raman scattering can be an efficient method of moving population into a given molecular level.
Techniques for population transfer are needed to gain more complete insight into the collision dynamics of thermally unpopulated levels, e.g. highly vibrationally excited states of molecules. Very promising new techniques are now becoming available. They invoke coherence properties of the radiation field and rely on the phenomena of adiabatic following. In this presentation, I will discuss one of them, the STIRAP method, which induces efficient and highly selective flow of population from an initially populated level 1 to a final level 3. These levels are coupled by a pump and a Stokes laser, with both laser frequencies tuned to resonance with an intermediate level 2. Despite the resonance, spontaneous emission, which may populate levels other than level 3, is eliminated. The method can be implemented with cw as well as with pulsed lasers. First results from a study of the effect of initial vibrational excitation of a molecule on a chemical reaction will be presented. It will also be shown how this technique allows the orientation of electronic or molecular angular moments. The prospects of using this technique for efficient transfer of photon momenta to an atom may be mentioned.