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Physical Review Letters

Absorption fluctuations and persistent spectral hole burning in a Nd3+ -doped glass waveguide

William S Brocklesby, Brage Golding, J. R. Simpson

Published Oct 23, 1989• 21 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The observation of statistical absorption fluctuations of an inhomogeneously broadened optical transition in a glass is reported. Frequency modulation spectroscopy in a 10-ppm ${\mathrm{Nd}}^{3+}$-doped-silica optical fiber has also revealed spectral holes that persist for days at 4.2 K. Homogeneous linewidths ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{h}$ measured using hole burning and fluctuations are in good mutual agreement but are significantly larger than those inferred from photon echo decays in the same system. This difference confirms recent predictions of a time-dependent ${\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{h}$(t) arising from the tunneling dynamics of the glass.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.63.1833

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Journal of Applied Physics•May 15, 2002•1 citation
The observation of statistical absorption fluctuations of an inhomogeneously broadened optical transition in a glass is reported. Frequency modulation spectroscopy in a 10-ppm Nd3+{\mathrm{Nd}}^{3+}Nd3+-doped-silica optical fiber has also revealed spectral holes that persist for days at 4.2 K. Homogeneous linewidths \ensuremathΓh{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{h}\ensuremathΓh​ measured using hole burning and fluctuations are in good mutual agreement but are significantly larger than those inferred from photon echo decays in the same system. This difference confirms recent predictions of a time-dependent \ensuremathΓh{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{h}\ensuremathΓh​(t) arising from the tunneling dynamics of the glass.
Persistent spectral holeburning is known to occur in rare-earth doped silica-based glasses,1-3 where the mechanism is attributed to light induced changes in the coupling of tunnelling systems (TLS) which are characteristic of the amorphous state. A number of hole parameters such as lifetime, saturation depth and temperature dependence of the width, can provide important information on the density of states and dynamics of the TLS. We present the first data on spectral holeburning in a rare-earth doped heavy metal fluoride glass (HMF, Rennes) and compare with data obtained on a silicate glass (ED-2, Owens-Illinois). For this study we have chosen the well known 4I9/2 ← → 4F3/2 transition of the Nd3+ ion whose absorption peaks around 870nm (HMF) and 880nm (ED-2). Previous holeburning and photon echo measurements have been reported on the 4I9/2 ← → 4G5/2 transition of the Nd3+ of bulk ED-2 glass4 and on the 4I9/2 ← → 4F3/2 transition of the Nd3' transition of a pure silica fiber.3,5
Understanding decoherence in cryogenically cooled rare-earth-ion doped glass fibers is of fundamental interest and a prerequisite for applications of these material in quantum information applications. Here we study the coherence properties in a weakly doped erbium silica glass fiber motivated by our recent observation of efficient and long-lived Zeeman sublevel storage in this material and by its potential for applications at telecommunication wavelengths. We analyze photon echo decays as well as the potential mechanisms of spectral diffusion that can be caused by coupling with dynamic disorder modes that are characteristic for glassy hosts, and by the magnetic dipole-dipole interactions between Er3+{\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}Er3+ ions. We also investigate the effective linewidth as a function of magnetic field, temperature, and time, and then present a model that describes these experimental observations. We highlight that the operating conditions (0.6 K and 0.05 T) at which we previously observed efficient spectral hole burning coincide with those for narrow linewidths (1 MHz)---an important property for applications that has not been reported before for a rare-earth-ion doped glass.
For next generation high density optical storage, extensive studies on persistent spectral hole burning (PSHB) have been performed, because they have a large potential for a high density frequency-domain optical data storage. PSHB has been observed at room temperature in Sm-doped crystals and glasses. Among them, glasses are considered to be more favorable than single crystals, due to their wide inhomogeneous line width and easy process for mass production. In the study, we developed a new glass mixture which shows room temperature PSHB with a inhomogeneous line width broadened up to 70 cm/sup -1/. The PSHB was characterized by investigating the time decay pattern of fluorescence and the excitation spectra.
Homogeneous and inhomogeneous spectral linewidths of the ${(}^{2}{F}_{5/2}{)}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{(}^{2}{F}_{7/2}{)}_{1}$ transition in Yb3+{\mathrm{Yb}}^{3+}Yb3+-doped fluorozirconate glasses are determined by fitting Voigt profiles to the inhomogeneously broadened emission and absorption spectra between 10 and 300 K. The homogeneous linewidth varied as $(12\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{T}^{(1.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1)}\mathrm{MHz}$ for emission and $(10\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{T}^{1.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1}$ for absorption over the entire temperature range, similar to that of other rare-earth-doped systems previously studied by fluorescence line narrowing and photon echoes. The inhomogeneous linewidths were nearly independent of temperature, but different by $\ensuremath{\sim}30%$ between emission and absorption. The structural and dynamic properties in this disordered system are discussed.
Efficient persistent spectral hole burning in Eu3+-doped sulfide glasses was observed with the addition of CsBr or KBr. Holes in these glasses showed high initial growth rates, thermal barrier heights, and low relaxation rates. It was also possible to form independent multiholes on the inhomogeneously broadened absorption spectrum. One-photon absorption of the burning light and corresponding reduction of Eu3+ into Eu2+ via interaction with local conduction (or charge transfer) bands are the main processes for hole burning.