Modulated coherent Raman beats

Abstract

The authors study the phenomenon of coherent Raman beats in ${}_{}{}^{15}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{N}$ ${\mathrm{H}}_3$ using a C${\mathrm{O}}_2$ laser and Stark switching. In particular, a three-level system in which the two upper levels always remain split by a few MHz is prepared by switching the transitions into resonance with a short Stark pulse whose bandwidth is large enough to coherently excite both transitions. When one of the coherently excited levels remains in resonance with the laser after the Stark pulse, this system exhibits a qualitatively new effect which has not been seen heretofore. For Stark shifts on the order of the upper-state splitting or smaller, the Raman beat is amplitude modulated at a frequency related to the optical nutation frequency. This is interpreted as being due to an interaction between the two-photon coherent Raman beat process and a single-photon optical nutation process which occurs simultaneously. Numerical calculations as well as a simple analytic model are presented to support this interpretation. By reducing the laser power, one can make the modulation of the Raman beat disappear. From the Raman signal in this regime the permanent electric dipole moment of ${}_{}{}^{15}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{N}$ ${\mathrm{H}}_3$ in an excited vibrational state is determined and the Raman beat decay rate measured. By comparing the latter result with a delayed optical nutation measurement we show that phase-changing collisions are negligible for the transition studied.