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Spectral Hole-Burning and Related Spectroscopies: Science and Applications

Femtosecond Photon Echo In Solids: Selective Spectroscopy Not Using Zero-Phonon Lines

Игорь Сергеевич Осадько, M. V. Stashek

Published Jan 1, 1994• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Fluorescence—line—narrowing, spectral hole—burning and single molecule spectroscopy are methods of selective spectroscopy using zero-phonon lines (ZPL) to make selection in molecular ensemble. However if electron-phonon coupling is strong or sample temperature is near to room temperature, ZPL are absent and the optical band consists of electron-phonon transitions which are called phonon-side-band (PSB). In these cases the above mentioned methods of selective spectroscopy do not work. Can we get an information concerning a homogeneous optical band from inhomogeneously broadened bands in these cases? The answer is yes if we use femtosecond photon echo.

DOI
10.1364/shbs.1994.wd5

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Fluorescence—line—narrowing, spectral hole—burning and single molecule spectroscopy are methods of selective spectroscopy using zero-phonon lines (ZPL) to make selection in molecular ensemble. However if electron-phonon coupling is strong or sample temperature is near to room temperature, ZPL are absent and the optical band consists of electron-phonon transitions which are called phonon-side-band (PSB). In these cases the above mentioned methods of selective spectroscopy do not work. Can we get an information concerning a homogeneous optical band from inhomogeneously broadened bands in these cases? The answer is yes if we use femtosecond photon echo.
A few examples of recent progress in the study and applications of purely electronic zero-phonon line (ZPL) and its offshoots are briefly considered: new experimental values of the narrowest ZPL; time-and-space-domain holography in the femtosecond domain, and the realization of a femtosecond Taffoli gate by it; single-impurity-molecule spectroscopy, its relation to single-photon interference and to the realization of quantum computing; the promises of quantum computing compared to what has already been done in holography.
A pure-electronic zero-phonon line, which represents an optical analog of the Mössbauer γ-resonance line, is a cornerstone of three remarkable areas of spectroscopy and optics of impurity solids, namely, ultrahigh-resolution spectroscopy, persistent hole-burning spectroscopy, and spectroscopy of single impurity molecules. In recent experiments made by the photon echo technique, a zero-phonon line width as small as 78 Hz was achieved (with the Q -factor, i.e., the ratio of the transition frequency to the line width being 2×10 14 :78≈ 10 12 ), which is several tenfold lower than the frequency shift of the vibronic spectrum caused by the momentum of the absorbed or emitted photon of optical range. We estimate the position, intensity, and width of zero-phonon lines under conditions when these characteristics, as well as properties of the phonon wing, are determined not only by Stokes losses but also by the photon recoil effect. It is shown that the latter effect, within the approximation used, does not lead to strong and easily detectable phenomena. They, however, take place, and their study is becoming more topical with improving accuracy and sophistication of the experimental technique (in the photon echo configurations, etc.).
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 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.