Coherent anti-stokes raman scattering in gaseous nitrogen with picosecond pulses

The use of CARS as a prove of gas phase molecular concentration has been extended into the picosecond regime. A double-beam configuration employing single pulses from a mode-locked Nd:glass laser has allowed measurement of N 2 ( 1 Σ g , ν = 0) pressures on accuracy of better than 10% with 8 ps time resolution. This technique shows promise for the study of dynamics of gas phase photodissociation processes.