Abstract

We demonstrate the efficient modulation of an $\sim 100$-femtosecond pulse in a Raman medium coherently prepared by nanosecond pulses. Raman sidebands of the ultrashort pulse spanning 360 THz are generated with an efficiency of $>5\%$. We show that the mechanism permitting the sidebands to be generated is the preparation of a significant vibrational coherence in the medium that is robust to disturbance by an intense short pulse. If the observed sidebands were phase compensated, they would form a short train of approximately ten 3-fs pulses. Focusing would permit the realization of a peak intensity of $>{10}^{13} \mathrm{W} {\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$.

© 2005 Optical Society of America

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