SPECTRAL AND TEMPORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SPONTANEOUS RAMAN-SCATTERING IN THE TRANSIENT REGIME

We demonstrate explicitly that the quantum theories that predict that stimulated Raman scattering is initiated from zero-point fluctuations of either the material oscillators or the electromagnetic field are equivalent and that the process can be viewed as arising from both types of fluctuation. We further demonstrate experimentally that in the transient regime the spontaneous Stokes intensity reproduces the pump in amplitude and phase, as predicted by quantum theory, without any of the integrating effects normally associated with transient processes.