Strain-mediated ion–ion interaction in rare-earth-doped solids
Anne Louchet-Chauvet, T. Chanelière
It was recently shown that the optical excitation of rare-earth ions produces a local change of the host matrix shape, attributed to a change of the rare-earth ion's electronic orbital geometry. In this work we investigate the consequences of this piezo-orbital backaction and show from a macroscopic model how it yields a disregarded ion-ion interaction mediated by mechanical strain. This interaction scales as1/r3, similarly to the other archetypal ion-ion interactions, namely electric and magnetic dipole-dipole interactions. We quantitatively assess and compare the magnitude of these three interactions from the angle of the instantaneous spectral diffusion mechanism, and re-examine the scientific literature in a range of rare-earth doped systems in the light of this generally underestimated contribution.
arXiv:2301.05531•Journal of Physics Condensed Matter•Apr 18, 2023•7 citations