Amplification of ultrashort light pulses in a Raman-active medium

A theoretical analysis is made of the transient amplification of ultrashort light pulses in a Raman-active medium making allowance for the pump saturation in the amplification process. It is shown that when the gain and pump pulse duration satisfy certain conditions, the efficiency of conversion of the pump radiation into the Stokes component increases in the presence of a weak "seed" Stokes signal of duration much shorter than the pump pulses. It is suggested that this phenomenon can be used in the detection of ultrashort light pulses.