Observation of temporal beating in first- and second-order intensity measurement between independent Raman Stokes fields in atomic vapor

By using spontaneous Raman processes in the high-gain regime, we produce two independent Raman Stokes fields from an atomic ensemble. Temporal beating is observed between the two directly generated Stokes fields in a single realization. The beat frequency is found to be a result of an ac Stark frequency shift effect. However, due to the spontaneous nature of the process, the phases of the two Stokes fields change from one realization to another so that the beat signal disappears after averaging over many realizations. On the other hand, the beat signal is recovered in an intensity correlation measurement, showing a two-photon interference effect. The beat signal in intensity correlation enables us to obtain dephasing information in the Raman process. The dephasing effect is found to depend on the temperature of the atomic medium.