Fifth-order two-dimensional Raman spectra of CS2 are dominated by third-order cascades

We have demonstrated that fifth-order stimulated Raman spectra of the intermolecular modes in CS2 are dominated by cascading third-order processes. Previous studies have successfully discriminated against a sequential cascading process, but did not account for parallel third-order cascades. All of our measured spectra were successfully simulated considering only cascades built directly from our measured third-order spectra. Using an appropriately chosen phase matching geometry we also measured the sequential cascade, which should exist with equal probability to the parallel cascade. When employing a phase matching geometry that provided substantial discrimination against all of the third-order cascades we were not able to measure any signal. We assign an upper limit for the true fifth-order signal of 2% of the cascaded signal. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)00131-2].