STIMULATED RAMAN-SCATTERING IN HYDROGEN BY FREQUENCY-DOUBLED AMPLIFIED FEMTOSECOND TI-SAPPHIRE LASER-PULSES

We present results on stimulated Raman scattering in hydrogen excited by 200-fs-duration 1-kHz repetition-rate and 0.6-W average-power Ti:sa pphire (780-nm) and 0.2-W average-power second-harmonic (390-nm) laser pulses with linear and circular polarizations. Spectral and temporal measurements of the vibrational and rotational components at Stokes an d anti-Stokes frequencies in the wavelength range of 289-1154 nm are r eported. We observe threefold shortening of the first vibrational Stok es component pulses; excited by 400-fs-duration second-harmonic pulses . (C) 1996 Optical Society of America