The stimulated raman scattering process for possible use in photoselective isotope enrichment

The process of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is discussed as a means of achieving sizeable transient populations in the first vibrationally excited state of one species out of an isotopic mixture. This may be useful for photoselective isotope enrichment schemes. The main advantage of SRS excitation is the possibility of using one fixed-wavelength laser for the study of various compounds; also there is an inherent tendency to selectivity in SRS since the more abundant species in an isotopic mixture will show a higher gain for SRS. Sample calculations are presented showing Q-switched solid-state lasers to be good sources for selective excitation of gaseous mixtures, while mode-locked laser pulses are required for liquid samples.