The rate of absorption and emission of radiation is calculated for two laser fields interacting with a homogeneously broadened, three-level molecular system. The time-dependent Schrödinger equation is used in the density matrix formalism and the laser fields are treated classically. The laser fields, at frequencies ω
pand ω
s, are off resonance by δ
pand δ
s, respectively, such that

. Analytic expressions are derived for the imaginary part of the electric susceptibility,

and

. The present work differs from previous calculations in that the laser fields may have arbitrary values of field strength and each field may be on or off resonance. A discussion is presented of the properties of the solutions for

and

, for both strong and weak laser fields, based on computer evaluation of the general analytic expressions. It is shown that the solutions may be divided into single-photon and two-photon, or Raman, contributions. Conditions for optimizing

and the photon conversion efficiency are derived. These results may be applied to analyzing the pulsed, optically pumped submillimeter laser and to studying two-photon absorption in a gas.