Broadband coherent light generation in a Raman-active crystal driven by two-color femtosecond laser pulses

We demonstrate broadband light generation by focusing two-color ultrashort laser pulses into a Ramanactive crystal, lead tungstate (PbWO4). As many as 20 anti-Stokes and 2 Stokes fields are generated due to strong near-resonant excitation of a Raman transition. The generated spectrum extends from the infrared, through the visible region, to the ultraviolet, and it consists of discrete spatially separated sidebands. Our measurements confirm good mutual spatial and temporal coherence among the generated fields and open possibilities for synthesis of subfferntosecond light waveforms. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.