Enhancement of stimulated Raman scattering in laser-induced plasma formation in solvent mixture

Enhancement of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of the CH stretching mode of benzene was observed when a laser-induced plasma was formed in a benzene and toluene mixture. Under the same focusing conditions, the SRS was not observed for either pure solvent alone; it appeared only for the mixture. In addition, this enhancement was only observed early in the plasma formation. It is suggested that intermolecular interactions between benzene and toluene in the early stage of the plasma formation play an important role for the enhancement.