Control of quantum pathways for the generation of continuous-wave Raman sidebands.

The generation of a multifrequency continuous-wave laser through stimulated Raman scattering and phase-matched four-wave mixing in a medium-filled optical cavity is demonstrated. Three different quantum pathways for the four-wave mixing, two of them degenerate and one of them nondegenerate, can be excited independently by tuning the intracavity dispersion. The results suggest that phase-matched Raman sidebands were generated on the longer wavelength side as well as on the shorter wavelength side, which can be used for the Fourier synthesis of a train of ultrashort optical pulses.