Discussion of a ‘‘coherent artifact’’ in four-wave mixing experiments

In this paper, we discuss the nonlinear optical effects that arise when stochastic light waves, with different correlation times, interfere in an absorbing medium. It is shown that four-wave mixing signals are generated in several directions that spectrally track the incoming light fields. This effect is particularly relevant to transient hole-burning experiments, where one of these signals could easily be misinterpreted as a genuine hole-burning feature.