Stark-induced three-wave mixing in molecular gases - Part II: Experiment

Abstract

The first observation of resonantly enhanced, dc-induced, three-wave mixing in a gas is presented. A CW CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> laser beam and microwave radiation at 4 GHz are mixed in a microwave Stark cell containing gaseous NH <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> D. A single new sideband, 4 GHz below the applied CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> laser frequency, is observed with the aid of a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer. The dependence of the sideband signal on gas pressure, microwave frequency, applied dc field, and microwave power are presented and compared with theoretical predictions.