Molecular identification by generating coherence between molecular normal modes using stimulated Raman scattering

Abstract

We propose a method of driving the vibrations of normal modes of a target molecule into coherence using stimulated Raman scattering. In concert many vibrations can produce a larger anti-Stokes signal than a single vibration. The same illumination does not drive other molecules to have coherent vibrations so that these molecules produce a weaker signal. We investigate how target and confounder molecules can be distinguished by pulses that drive many vibrations coherently, which has applications in coherent Raman microspectroscopy.