Abstract

The sensitivity and coherent nature of the degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) signal from molecular gases has motivated a number of investigations into its application as diagnostic for combustion and chemical physics measurements. The degeneracy of molecular energy levels and thermal washout of contributions from counter-propagating pump and probe beams lead to interesting predictions of the polarization properties of DFWM that allow us to test our understanding of the responsible nonlinear mechanisms.

© 1992 Optical Society of America