Abstract
We have conducted a study of stimulated rotational Raman scattering (SRRS) in hydrogen using a 527-nrn pump laser having an input energy up to 800 mj. This study has succeeded in meeting several fundamental and practical objectives. First, we measured the energy distributions and recorded the temporal pulse shapes of the various output wavelengths to elucidate the dynamics that lead to the generation of complex SRRS spectra. More will be said about this. Second, we identified the mechanisms that limit the SRRS conversion efficiency; for the range of experimental parameters studied the principal limiting mechanisms are optical breakdown, vibrational SRS, and saturation of the medium, i.e., using up all the available molecules in the interaction volume that are in the appropriate rotational levels. Third, we characterized the variation of the overall SRRS conversion efficiency as a function of input energy and hydrogen pressure, and we achieved an energy conversion efficiency of as much as 75% at the highest input energy. In these measurements, we observed threshold energies much greater than would be expected based on steady state calculations indicating the presence of transient gain effects. In general, most of the output energy (typically 70%) was observed at the first Stokes wavelength in this unoptimized configuration.
© 1989 Optical Society of America
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