We experimentally demonstrate in diamond that third-harmonic generation can be enhanced by orders of magnitude with polarization dependence through assistance from a Raman resonance, in a process analogous to coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering.
The correlation between the Stokes and anti-Stokes components of Raman scattering has assumed an important role in the field of quantum information. When the Raman shifts match the energy of a phonon in the material, in the real-SaS, one-phonon Fock state are generated. When such resonance is not achieved, the energy exchange is mediated by virtual phonons, generating photonic Cooper pairs (PCPs). In this work, investigations of polarization correlations and scattering time dependences elucidate the fundamental difference between the real and the virtual phenomena.
Raman oscillation, frequency upconversion, and Raman amplification can be achieved in a second-order nonlinear medium at the phonon-polariton resonance. By beating two optical fields, a second-order nonlinear polarization is generated inside the medium. Such a polarization induces a spatially uniform nonpropagating electric field at the beat frequency, which in turn mixes with the input optical field at the lower frequency to generate or amplify the anti-Stokes optical field. Raman oscillation can be efficiently reached for the copropagating configuration. In comparison, efficient frequency upconversion and large amplifications are achievable for the counterpropagating configuration. These Raman processes can be used to effectively remove transverse-optical phonons before decaying to lower-frequency phonons, achieve laser cooling, and significantly enhance coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering. The counterpropagating configuration offers advantages for amplifying extremely weak signals.