Theory of the Stimulated Raman and Related Effects

Abstract

A simple description of the stimulated Raman emission of Stokes radiation, and of the induced absorption found by Stoicheff at the anti-Stokes frequency, is based on the semiclassical theory of radiation. This theory gives the well-known formulas for absorption and stimulated emission when carried to the first order in the time-dependent perturbation due to the interaction of the light beam with the molecules. If there are two light beams of frequencies ωL and ω, the second-order perturbation may be associated with stimulated emission at the Stokes frequency ω=ω−1=ωL—ωR and with induced absorption at the anti-Stokes frequency ω=ω1=ωL+ωR, where ωL is the laser frequency and ωR a Raman-active vibrational frequency; in both cases, there is a molecular transition to the excited vibrational state. The highly directional and very sharp anti-Stokes emission at ω1 arises from the conversion by molecules in intense beams at ωL and ω−1 of two ωL photons into an ω−1, ω1 pair. Like spontaneous emission from excited states, the production of this anti-Stokes radiation requires the full quantum theory of radiation for an adequate description. The emission of ω1 and the observed directional absorption of ω−1 due to the reverse conversion ω−1+ω1→2ωL are explained. The anti-Stokes emission is proportional to the Stokes intensity and to the square of that of the laser, and to the square of the molecular number density; its sharpness is due to the absence of a molecular transition. The generation of photon pairs ω−n+ωn, where ωn=ωL+nωR, can occur for all values of n, but it is most efficient for n=1, due to resonance in the appropriate molecular hyperpolarizability and to the intensity of the Stokes beam at ω−1.