Strong selective excitation of Raman-active vibrations and energy transfer between low-lying vibrational states of a CO2 molecule studied by PARS and CARS

We experimentally demonstrate the novel technique of inducing the highly nonequilibrium distribution of molecules over vibrational states by two-frequency coherent Raman excitation. The technique can be used for selective excitation of totally symmetric and other Raman-active molecular transitions. Two counter propagating focused laser beams (second harmonic of Nd: YAG and dye laser) were used to induce population difference changes at the 00⁰0–10⁰0 transition in CO₂ molecules. The excitation and relaxation kinetics of this and neighbours vibrational modes of CO₂ were studied both by CARS and PARS. Vibrational excitation of up to 20% of the total number of irradiated molecules is measured; previously unknown desactivation constant of CO₂ (10⁰0) and CO₂ (02⁰0) states via CO₂ (01¹0) state is estimated to be K = (3±1) × 1 ⁵s^-1torr^-1.