We investigate the mechanical potential of an atom due to a Raman tran
sition. This is a generalization of the usual two-level dipole potenti
al. With sufficiently large one- and two-photon detunings the forms of
the potential and excitation probability are the same as for the two-
level case, but with a scaled detuning. This allows greater effective
blue detunings to be accessible with the Raman scheme. This means that
with the same available laser power, atoms can move coherently in the
light field for many orders of magnitude longer without spontaneously
emitting. Furthermore the sign of the potential may be controlled ind
ependently of the one-photon detuning.