We demonstrate an application of two-color resonant four-wave mixing (TC-RFWM) technique to produce and to detect vibrationally excited level (5 0 0) of the X-1 A(1) state of SO2 in a supersonic jet. A stimulated-emission pumping (SEP) scheme of TC-RFWM was employed, with probe (pump) and grating (dump) wavelengths in resonance with transitions A(1)A(2)(E band)-X(1)A(1)(000) and A(1)A(2)-X(1)A(1)(500), respectively. The double-resonance nature of this technique facilitates unambiguous vibronic assignments. From 94 pairs of transitions we measured energies of 20 rotational levels in X(1)A(1) (5 0 0) and obtained rotational parameters and vibrational energy of this level. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.