Phase‐locking of two independent degenerate coherent anti‐Stokes Raman scattering processes: concept,proposed all‐optical implementation,and potential applications

A novel approach toward phase‐locking of two independently produced yet energetically degenerate coherent anti‐Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) processes is put forward. The proposed all‐optical implementation involves a modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer, which is utilized to transfer phase coherence from three totally uncorrelated laser beams into two degenerate CARS beams that are produced in two distinct Raman active samples. Such a CARS interferometer based on coherent phase transport allows explicit measurement and control of phase differences between the two phase‐locked degenerate CARS processes, and hence may find applications in pertinent research fields such as CARS spectroscopy (tomography) as well as quantum information processing and transfer. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.