Cooperative mean-frequency absorption: A two-beam two-photon process

Abstract

It is shown that by a cooperative process involving virtual photon coupling between molecules, pairwise two-photon absorption can lead to molecular transitions associated with the mean of the laser frequencies in a two-beam experiment. The process is represented by A+A+ℏω1+ℏω2→A*+A*, and the selection rules are those normally applicable to two-photon absorption. The interaction may involve the excitation of chromophore pairs in polyatomic molecules, van der Waals molecules, or more usually discrete molecules in a gas or liquid. In the former case, however, dissymmetric juxtaposition of the chromophores produces a chirality which is manifest in a circular dichroism associated with the absorption process. The appropriate absorption rates are calculated using the methods of quantum electrodynamics, and the dependence on the separation of the interacting pair is examined in detail. Methods for observing the mean-frequency interaction are also outlined, and attention is drawn to a resonance condition which should appreciably enhance the absorption rate.