Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physica Scripta

Selective laser spectroscopy of molecules and ions in solids: a history, fundamentals and applications

M. N. Sapozhnikov

Published Jan 11, 2018• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract A history of the development of selective laser spectroscopy is presented, beginning with a pioneering work by Yu. V. Denisov and V. A. Kizel in 1967, who were the first to demonstrate the possibility of removing the inhomogeneous broadening of luminescence spectra of impurity ions in glasses upon monochromatic resonance excitation. Selective excitation of optical centers can be achieved due to existence of zero-phonon transitions corresponding to narrow homogeneous zero-phonon lines in the spectra of impurity centers in solids, which are hidden in broad inhomogeneous optical bands upon usual nonselective excitation. The fundamentals of zero-phonon transition spectroscopy are considered and the mechanism of removing the inhomogeneous broadening of optical spectra of ions and molecules in crystals and amorphous solids under selective laser excitation of luminescence and persistent hole burning in absorption spectra is presented in detail. Various applications of selective laser spectroscopy for fundamental and applied studies are discussed.

DOI
10.1088/1402-4896/aa9ca8

Related papers

Structure and Dynamics in Solids As Probed by Optical Spectroscopy

James L. Skinner, W. E. Moerner

Optical spectroscopy provides a useful tool for probing the structure and dynamics of solids. Over the years, optical methods have evolved from absorption spectroscopy to more complex methods such as spectral hole burning, photon echoes, and luminescence line narrowing. The absorption spectrum provides information about inhomogeneous broadening, while the latter approaches provide information about the systematics of the homogeneous line shape information that is often obscured by inhomogeneous broadening. When external perturbations such as strain or electric fields are applied, details of the local site can be obtained. Recently, the ultimate limit of optical spectroscopy has been attained, in which the spectral properties of individual single impurity molecules in a solid can be measured, with all ensemble averaging removed. This novel regime has provided additional, previously unobtainable, information on a highly local scale, such as the direct observation of the spectral shifting of a single molecule produced by configurational transitions of the host. It is to be expected that further surprises await us in this new frontier of single-molecule spectroscopy in solids.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry•Jan 1, 1996•124 citations

Hole-burning spectroscopy: concepts and applications

Urs P. Wild, Alois Renn

The lowest electronic transitions of many absorbing centers in solid hosts consist of extremely narrow zero phonon lines distributed over a broad spectral range. Frequency selective modification of such inhomogeneously broadened bands has several potential applications. In very dilute samples inhomogeneous broadening provides a key for spectroscopic isolation of single absorber resonances.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Sep 24, 1993•0 citations

Zero-Phonon Lines in the Spectroscopy and Photochemistry of Impurity-Doped Solid Matter

Estonian Ssr

A brief account of zero-phonon lines in the low-temperature spectra of impurity atoms and molecules in solid matrices - crystals, glasses, polymers - is given. Inhomoge­ neous broadening, its elimination and applications by photoburning of spectral holes are considered. Some remarks on the history and future of the topics are made. A va­ riety of physicists, chemists, biologists, applied spectroscopists and also data pro­ cessing specialists are considered as potential readers.

•Jan 1, 1988•0 citations

Hole-Burning Spectroscopy

Silvia Volker

The study of optical relaxation processes in solids at low temperature has progressed tremendously in the last 20 years due to the development of coherent optical techniques. The latter would not have been possible without the advent of narrow-band tunable lasers, on the one hand, and lasers with very short pulses (picoseconds, femtosecoods) on the other hand. Such coherent techniques are necessary because spectral line shapes of solids doped with guest molecules are seldom determined by dynamical interactions but principally by strain or structural disorder. This gives rise to inhomogeneous broadening, rlOh, which in crystalline hosts at low temperature varies between ' 0.1 and 10 cm -I, whereas in glasses it may amount to � 100-500 em-I. One of the techniques to achieve narrowing of spectral lines is site­ selection spectroscopy (1-3). A sub-ensemble of molecules within thc inhomogeneously broadened absorption band is selectively excited by mcans of a narrow-band laser, and the fluorescence or phosphoresccnce signal is detected with a high-resolution monochromator and/or a Fabry­ Perot interferometer. Fluorescence line-narrowing ( I) is a special case of this technique (for a review see 3). The intrinsic or homogeneous spectral linewidth, r hom, which yields information on the relaxation processes of the excited state, is given by the effective optical dephasing time, T2:

Annual Review of Physical Chemistry•Jan 1, 1989•230 citations

High resolution time and frequency domain spectroscopy of solid state laser materials

A. Szabó

Frequency and time domain techniques of homogeneous laser spectroscopy of ions in solids are reviewed. Applications in three areas of current interest in our lab are described. These are: resonant energy transfer in ruby, strain characterization of crystals and the possible application of optical hole burning of inhomogeneously broadened lines in solids to a high capacity optical memory.

lase•Jan 1, 1981•0 citations

Inhomogeneous broadening in solids: Progress towards a microscopic understanding

James L. Skinner, Brian B. Laird, Leslie J. Root

Abstract Inhomogeneous broadening is often considered a nuisance in solid state spectroscopy, and the usual treatment of it is phenomenological. In fact, the inhomogeneous broadening of absorption spectra, coupled with a microscopic theory, can provide one with interesting information about the nature of disorder in different systems. More sophisticated experiments can provide more detailed information about disorder by probing certain correlations between energy levels. For example, flourescence line narrowing spectra of isolated impurities involve correlations among three different vibronic levels. Pressure effects on hole burning spectra probe correlations of impurity transition energies before and after the pressure change. For interacting impurity systems, photon echo experiments involve transition energy correlations between different impurities. Efforts to understand these effects within a microscopic framework are discussed.

Journal of Luminescence•Jan 1, 1990•16 citations
Abstract A history of the development of selective laser spectroscopy is presented, beginning with a pioneering work by Yu. V. Denisov and V. A. Kizel in 1967, who were the first to demonstrate the possibility of removing the inhomogeneous broadening of luminescence spectra of impurity ions in glasses upon monochromatic resonance excitation. Selective excitation of optical centers can be achieved due to existence of zero-phonon transitions corresponding to narrow homogeneous zero-phonon lines in the spectra of impurity centers in solids, which are hidden in broad inhomogeneous optical bands upon usual nonselective excitation. The fundamentals of zero-phonon transition spectroscopy are considered and the mechanism of removing the inhomogeneous broadening of optical spectra of ions and molecules in crystals and amorphous solids under selective laser excitation of luminescence and persistent hole burning in absorption spectra is presented in detail. Various applications of selective laser spectroscopy for fundamental and applied studies are discussed.
Optical spectroscopy provides a useful tool for probing the structure and dynamics of solids. Over the years, optical methods have evolved from absorption spectroscopy to more complex methods such as spectral hole burning, photon echoes, and luminescence line narrowing. The absorption spectrum provides information about inhomogeneous broadening, while the latter approaches provide information about the systematics of the homogeneous line shape information that is often obscured by inhomogeneous broadening. When external perturbations such as strain or electric fields are applied, details of the local site can be obtained. Recently, the ultimate limit of optical spectroscopy has been attained, in which the spectral properties of individual single impurity molecules in a solid can be measured, with all ensemble averaging removed. This novel regime has provided additional, previously unobtainable, information on a highly local scale, such as the direct observation of the spectral shifting of a single molecule produced by configurational transitions of the host. It is to be expected that further surprises await us in this new frontier of single-molecule spectroscopy in solids.
The study of optical relaxation processes in solids at low temperature has progressed tremendously in the last 20 years due to the development of coherent optical techniques. The latter would not have been possible without the advent of narrow-band tunable lasers, on the one hand, and lasers with very short pulses (picoseconds, femtosecoods) on the other hand. Such coherent techniques are necessary because spectral line shapes of solids doped with guest molecules are seldom determined by dynamical interactions but principally by strain or structural disorder. This gives rise to inhomogeneous broadening, rlOh, which in crystalline hosts at low temperature varies between ' 0.1 and 10 cm -I, whereas in glasses it may amount to � 100-500 em-I. One of the techniques to achieve narrowing of spectral lines is site­ selection spectroscopy (1-3). A sub-ensemble of molecules within thc inhomogeneously broadened absorption band is selectively excited by mcans of a narrow-band laser, and the fluorescence or phosphoresccnce signal is detected with a high-resolution monochromator and/or a Fabry­ Perot interferometer. Fluorescence line-narrowing ( I) is a special case of this technique (for a review see 3). The intrinsic or homogeneous spectral linewidth, r hom, which yields information on the relaxation processes of the excited state, is given by the effective optical dephasing time, T2:
Abstract Inhomogeneous broadening is often considered a nuisance in solid state spectroscopy, and the usual treatment of it is phenomenological. In fact, the inhomogeneous broadening of absorption spectra, coupled with a microscopic theory, can provide one with interesting information about the nature of disorder in different systems. More sophisticated experiments can provide more detailed information about disorder by probing certain correlations between energy levels. For example, flourescence line narrowing spectra of isolated impurities involve correlations among three different vibronic levels. Pressure effects on hole burning spectra probe correlations of impurity transition energies before and after the pressure change. For interacting impurity systems, photon echo experiments involve transition energy correlations between different impurities. Efforts to understand these effects within a microscopic framework are discussed.