Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) is a well-known Raman scattering process that occurs when Stokes, anti-Stokes and pump waves are properly phase-matched. Using a quantum-field approach with Langevin noise sources, we calculate the noise figure for wavelength conversion between the Stokes and anti-Stokes waves in CARS and show its dependence on phase mismatch. Under phase matched conditions, the minimum noise figure is approximately 3 dB, with a correction that depends on the pump frequency, Stokes shift, refractive indices, and nonlinear susceptibilities. We calculate the photon statistics of CARS and show that the photon number distribution is non-Gaussian. Our findings may be significant for currently pursued applications of CARS including wavelength conversion in data transmission and spectroscopic detection of dilute biochemical species.
The theory of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) is extended to include the effect of pump fluctuations. The intensities and spectra of lines in resonant CARS are calculated to all orders in fields assuming a phase-diffusion model for waves at the two pump frequencies. The bandwidth of the two lasers enters in a much more complicated way than following a simple scaling of
T1 or
T2. Various resonances in CARS spectra due to dynamic splitting of the energy levels are discussed for a range of detunings, field intensities, and bandwidths. In contrast to the usual spectra in strong fields, the Rabi sidebands appear as dispersion-shaped structures. The laser linewidth is shown to change dramatically the CARS line shape. The case of no saturation is also treated, thus allowing for the inclusion of more general line shapes and fluctuations of the pump waves and the nonlinear susceptibility tensor ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(3)}$. Gaussian statistics of the pump field are shown to lead to enhancement factors in CARS intensity, similar to those appearing in the context of multiphoton absorption processes.
The degree of phase cross correlation between a fluctuating pump wave and the Stokes wave, which is generated by stimulated Raman scattering, can be determined by observing the spectrum of anti-Stokes light generated by coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). The spectrum of the anti-Stokes light has two distinct features: one that arises from scattering through an off-resonant virtual level and one that arises from resonant scattering through the real level. This provides a method to measure the phase cross correlation between two optical fields of different color. The intensity of the anti-Stokes signal strongly depends on the degree of cross correlation. Depending on the detuning from Raman resonance in the CARS process, the anti-Stokes intensity can be either enhanced or suppressed with respect to the case of uncorrelated fields.1
The non-classical effects of squeezing of light in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and coherent anti-Stokes hyper-Raman scattering (CAHRS) are investigated under the short-time approximation based on a fully quantum mechanical approach. In an idealized model CARS, the interaction is looked upon as a process involving absorption of a pump photon and emission of a Stokes photon, which is followed by absorption of a pump photon and subsequently emission of an anti-Stokes photon at a different frequency, whereas CAHRS is looked upon as a process involving absorption of two pump photons and emission of a Stokes photon, which is followed by absorption of two more pump photons and subsequent emission of an anti-Stokes photon at a different frequency. The coupled Heisenberg equations of motion involving real and imaginary parts of the quadrature operators are established. It is shown that squeezing in the Stokes and anti-Stokes mode in CARS is found to be dependent on amplitude-squared squeezing of the initial pump field while, in CAHRS, it is dependent on the fourth-order amplitude squeezing of the initial pump field. Higher-order squeezing can be converted to linear squeezing through these processes. It is also shown that squeezing is greater in CAHRS than the corresponding squeezing in CARS.
Saturation effects in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy are discussed. The discussion is limited to Raman-resonant CARS (${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{21}$, where ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l,s}$ are the frequencies of the pump fields with powers
Pl,s, and ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{21}$ is the frequency of the Raman transition $|1〉\ensuremath{\rightarrow}|2〉$) with the possible addition of a one-photon resonance (${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{31}$ is the frequency of the electronic transition $|1〉\ensuremath{\rightarrow}|3〉$). For these cases we show that the CARS polarization
pCARS is proportional to the off-diagonal density-matrix element ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{21}$. In order to determine ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{21}$, we use Laplace transforms to solve the Bloch equations for the effective two-level system
∣1〉 and
∣2〉 when ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}$ is far from resonance, or for the three-level system
∣1〉,∣2〉, and
∣3〉, when ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{31}$. The steady-state expression for
pCARS in the former case gives ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{P}_{l}{P}_{s}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ at low powers and ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{P}_{l}^{0}{P}_{s}^{\frac{\ensuremath{-}1}{2}}$ at high powers. In the three-level system, we show that when the pressure is low and at least one field is weak, the slow time dependence of ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{21}$ must be considered. When one field is strong and the other weak, the CARS spectrum is Stark split. When
Pl is high, for example, ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{P}_{l}^{0}{P}_{s}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ for ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{32}$ and ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{({P}_{l}{P}_{s})}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ when ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{32}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{V}_{13}$ where
V13 is the one-photon Rabi frequency for the $|1〉\ensuremath{\rightarrow}|3〉$ transition. The Wilcox-Lamb approximation is used to reduce the three-level Bloch equations to rate equations containing one- and two-photon terms. When the fields are so weak that both one- and two-photon terms are small compared to the decay terms, the usual expression for
pCARS is reproduced. If only the direct two-photon processes are important, the effective-two-system results are reproduced. When both fields are intense and nearly resonant, the steady state is rapidly achieved. The results for the case where one field is much stronger than the other are essentially the same as those for one strong and one weak field. When the fields are of comparable strength, ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{P}_{l}^{\frac{1}{2}}{P}_{s}^{0}$ for ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{31}$ and ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{32}$, and the CARS spectrum is split into five components.
Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) interferometry is used to deplete the anti-Stokes radiation emerging from a tightly focused spot. Near-to-complete depletion of the anti-Stokes radiation is obtained when a phase-controlled local oscillator field at the anti-Stokes frequency is out of phase with the induced CARS field in the focal volume. Unlike in traditional interferometry, this depleted energy is not spatially redistributed. A theoretical analysis shows that the energy loss in the anti-Stokes channel is accompanied by an energy gain in the pump and Stokes channels. Interferometric switching of anti-Stokes radiation may offer a route toward developing high-resolution CARS microscopy.