All-optical processing in coherent nonlinear spectroscopy
by
Dan Oron
Weizmann Institute of Science
Coauthors: Nirit Dudovich (Weizmann Institute), Thomas Polack (Weizmann Institute), Yaron Silberberg (Weizmann Institute)

The use of shaped ultrashort pulses has enabled achievement of coherent nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy, where both the vibrational excitation and its probing are done by the same laser pulse. Here we show that shaped pulses can not only excite and probe coherent molecular vibration but can also perform simple coherent processing and analysis of the observed spectra. This is done by inducing intereference between contributions to the total signal by quantum paths passing through different intermediate states. Due to its coherent nature, this type of optical processing results in significantly improved background rejection and in signal enhancement. Schemes allowing for single-pulse coherent multidimensional spectroscopy will also be discussed.

Date received: April 30, 2004