A theory of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is presented which treats in a unified manner the buildup of SRS from spontaneous Raman scattering and the spatial propagation which leads to gain. Maxwell-Bloch equations describe the coupling between the Stokes field operator and the collective atomic operators, which are driven by a classical laser field under low-signal-gain conditions, where the atomic ground states and laser field remain undepleted. An analytic expression is derived for the forward-propagating Stokes field operator in a one-dimensional spatial approximation when the Fresnel number of the excited medium is unity. Steady-state and transient Stokes intensities are evaluated under low-gain (spontaneous) and high-gain (stimulated) conditions. The Stokes intensity is found to be exactly independent of a laser bandwidth arising solely from phase fluctuations. The power spectrum of steady-state SRS is evaluated, giving a gain-narrowed spectral profile when the laser is narrow band, and a spectrum identical to the laser spectrum when the laser is broad band. A strong analogy between SRS and two-level superfluorescence is found; in both cases the macroscopic, collective dipole moment is initiated by quantum fluctuations.

• Received 23 January 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.24.1980