Coherent Raman Beats in Tm^{3 +}: YAG

We report on the first observation of Coherent Raman Beats (CRB) in Tm^{3 +} : YAG. Although CRB have been observed for the first time in 1972 and have triggered steady-stream activity ever since, investigation in rare-earth ion doped crystals has been up to now confined to praseodymium and europium compounds. The simple spectral structure of the system enables us to explore the CRB signal variation as a function of the Raman frequency and to check the dependence on spectral shape of the driving optical pulse. This work is placed in the prospect of quantum memory applications.