The theory of resonance Raman effect, resonantly enhanced two-photon absorption, and resonance fluorescence—valid also for strong fields—is treated in a unified and simplified way. Dressed states, Bloch equations, and perturbation theory are used to calculate line positions, and integrated intensities both for steady state and transient excitation. The case of adiabatic following is solved explicitly; it occurs when an off-resonance incident pulse is turned on and off slowly. It leads to the identification of Raman scattering, two-photon absorption, and Rayleigh scattering with an adiabatic process while fluorescence and consecutive two-photon absorption with nonadiabaticity. Time-dependent spectra are defined in a rigorous way. Our formulas agree in the various limits with those that appear in the literature.

• Received 19 August 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.15.1588