Persistent Spectral Hole Burning

Almost fifteen years have now elapsed since the first observations of per sistent spectral hole-burning in inhomogeneously broadened absorption lines in solids. The fact that the spectral shape of an inhomogeneously broadened line can be locally modified for long periods of time has led to a large number of investigations of low-temperature photophysics and photochemistry that would not have been possible otherwise. Using hole burning, important information has been obtained about a variety of in teractions, including excited-state dephasing processes, host-guest dynam ics, proton tunnelling, low-frequency excitation in amorphous hosts, relaxation mechanisms for vibrational modes, photochemical mechanisms at liquid helium temperatures, and external field perturbations. At the same time, the possibility that persistent spectral holes might be used to store digital information has led to the study of materials and configura tions for frequency-domain optical storage and related possible applica tions. This is the first full-length book on persistent spectral hole-burning. The goal is to provide a broadly based survey of the scientific principles and applications of persistent spectral hole-burning. Since the topic is quite interdisciplinary, the book is intended for researchers, graduate stu dents, and advanced undergraduates in the fields of chemical physics, solid-state physics, laser spectroscopy, solid-state photochemistry, and high-performance optical storage and optical processing.

This book describes the underlying scientific fundamentals and principal phenomena associated with persistent spectral hole-burning in solids, and presents an overview of possible future applications to optical storage of digital data and optical signal processing. Organization of the material is by the general physical mechanism responsible for the formation of persistent spectral holes. After a description of the basic principles and methods of hole-burning, with examples from photochemical processes in crystalline and amorphous hosts, the unusual proton tunneling phenomena that occur in hydrogen-bonded polymers and glasses are described. Persistent spectral hole-burning in inorganic materials due either to photoionization or to photophysical effects is then summarized, followed by a detailed discussion of nonphotochemical hole-burning mechanisms for electronic transitions in amorphous solids. The book concludes with a description of potential applications to data storage and optical processsing using frequency-domain, holographic, and electric field techniques. Readers of this volume will gain a detailed appreciation of both the generality of the persistent spectral hole-burning phenomenon and the power of the technique in studying microscopic dynamics and mechanisms of phototransformation in low-temperature solids.

Semiconductor quantum dots represent one of the fields of solid state physics that have experienced the greatest progress in the last decade. Recent years have witnessed the discovery of many striking new aspects of the optical response and electronic transport phenomena. This book surveys this progress in the physics, optical spectroscopy and application-oriented research of semiconductor quantum dots. It focuses especially on excitons, multi-excitons, their dynamical relaxation behaviour and their interactions with the surroundings of a semiconductor quantum dot. Recent developments in fabrication techniques are reviewed and potential applications discussed. This book will serve not only as an introductory textbook for graduate students but also as a concise guide for active researchers.

Disordered materials offer new and unexpected insights into the structure of solids and the ways charge carriers move and interact with their environment. The first part of this review volume presents new results and ideas in the subject dealing with the local bonding structure in amorphous and vitreous semiconductors. These include the local bonding structure in chalcogenide glasses containing metal atoms, the interaction of local vibrational modes with their local bonding environment, and new models for the H-bonding configurations.The second part is devoted to questions of low temperature hopping transport and recombination of photocarriers in disordered semiconductors as a function of frequency and at high electric fields. The reviews by leading experts offer different insights and attempt to address problems from the various angles.

Deals with the fundamental properties of photon and light beams, both experimentally and theoretically. It covers the essentials of linear interactions and most of the nonlinear interactions between light and matter in both the transparent and absorbing cases. About 4000 references open access to original literature.