We have studied in the femtosecond regime the transient dynamics of dichroism (anisotropic absorption), birefringence, and frequency shift induced by an intense femtosecond pump beam in the dye malachite green in solution. Vibrational quantum beats were observed superimposed on the saturated absorption and dispersion signals and quantitatively explained in terms of impulsivestimulated Raman scattering close to an electronic resonance. The selectivity for observation of the vibrations in the two electronic states is described for the different experimental schemes. We discuss the access to vibrational and electronic dynamics in both ground and excited electronic states and compare the possibilities to those of previous techniques.

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