Progress made during the last few years in nonlinear opticsand quantum electronics has significantly increased ourunderstanding of the interactionbetween light and matter.Of great importance are third-order nonlinear Ramantechniques such as CARS, RIKES, SRS, and DFWM. This bookreflects the state of the art in coherent Ramanspectroscopy. The contributions together provide anoverview of the various Raman techniques that make availableinformation about the fine structure of molecular energylevels, the collisional dynamics of atoms and molecules, andprocesses of internal energy disipation. Some of thecontributions also report on the application of local,nonperturbing diagnosic methods forthe determination ofparameters such as composition, temperature, density,velocity, and energy distribution between the internaldegrees of freedom.