Enhancement of stimulated Raman scattering in laser-induced plasma formation in solvent mixture

Enhancement of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of the CH stretching mode of benzene was observed when a laser-induced plasma was formed in a benzene and toluene mixture. Under the same focusing conditions, the SRS was not o bserved for either pure solvent alone; it appeared only for the mixture. In addition, this enhancement was only observed early in the plasma formation . It is suggested that intermolecular interactions between benzene and tolu ene in the early stage of the plasma formation play an important role for t he enhancement. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.