Raman-induced Kerr effect with elliptical polarization*

Abstract

Theoretical and experimental results are presented for the line shape of Raman-induced Kerr effect resonances observed with elliptical pump polarization. The line shape is sensitive to the ratio of the Kerr constant to the Raman tensor. Comparison of these results to those obtained by three-wave mixing reveals that the electronic contribution to the Kerr constant of benzene is 12%.