We suggest that subfemtosecond pulses can be generated by using high-order stimulated Raman scattering when a Raman transition is driven by three intense single-mode laser beams with two different modulation frequencies. An oscillatory strong Raman coherence is established by the modulated molecular modulation. Numeric simulations based on the first fundamental vibrational Raman transition of gaseous and solid deuterium indicate that subfemtosecond pulses can be generated by Raman excitations with above, below, or opposite Raman detunings.
With the recently available very intense coherent maser light, interesting higher order coherent Raman effects have been observed in solids, liquids, and gases. Garmire, Pandarese, and Townes have given a phenomenological theory of these higher order coherent Raman effects. In this paper a somewhat more detailed theory of these effects is given. The analysis is based on a perturbation solution of the Boltzmann equation for the density matrix of the Raman active medium. General expressions for all the relevant induced dipole moments and absorbed or emitted Stokes and anti-Stokes radiations in the ordinary or higher order coherent Raman processes are given. These cover a great variety of possible experimental situations. Several specific simple examples are studied in some detail and the results of the phenomenological theory are reproduced from the general results given here.
Considering the coherence properties of an inelastically scattered quantum radiation by an ensemble of N identical three level atoms in a solid-like array, we addressed the question whether this process is actually mediated by a series of multipole interactions and/or a series of virtual intermediate-exciton transitions and how the type of the considered mediation is reflected in the higher order coherence properties of the scattered radiation. Using a projector technique the reduced field density operator, the atomic and field correlation functions were found, the higher order coherence properties were studied and the arrival-time and phase correlation conditions of the light quanta were obtained and analysed. The results suggest that not only the arrival-time and phase correlation conditions are mathematically independent from the type of the considered mediating process, but that the multipole interaction approximation of a resonant Raman scattering, in the above considered system, is physically equivalent with the virtual intermediate-exciton transitions too.