Low‐temperature stimulated Raman scattering spectroscopy of tetragonal GdVO4 single crystals

Abstract

We report on the results of low‐temperature stimulated Raman scattering (SRS)‐spectroscopy of tetragonal GdVO4 single crystals. Measurements at T ≈ 9 K and picosecond excitation in the visible and near‐infrared range revealed new manifestations of χ(3)‐nonlinear photon–phonon interactions. Besides many‐phonon Stokes and anti‐Stokes octave spanning SRS generation we discovered a new fundamental χ(3)‐active phonon mode of the crystal. Furthermore, we received data on combined SRS‐active vibrational modes. The lower limits of the steady‐state Raman gain coefficients for first Stokes generation have been estimated together with the temperature dependence of these values in the range from T ≈ 9 and 273 K. A short review of SRS‐promoting vibrational modes and manifestations of χ(3)‐nonlinear interactions of all known SRS‐active tetragonal rare‐earth REVO4 vanadates is given as well.