Abstract

We have observed photon-gated spectral hole burning, i.e., hole burning that occurs only in the presence of an additional gating-light source. Gating enhancement factors of 10⁴ were observed. In BaClF:Sm²⁺ this involves two-step photoionization of Sm²⁺ and leads to persistent holes in the ⁴F₀ → ⁵D₀ (687.9-nm) and ⁷F₀ → ⁵D₁ (629.7-nm) absorption lines. The hole widths of 25 MHz at 2 K are much narrower than the inhomogeneous broadening of 16 GHz. The action spectrum of the gating shows a threshold behavior around 2.5 eV. Erasing studies show that Sm³⁺ acts as a trap for the released electrons. A remarkable and novel feature is that the holes can be recovered after temperature cycling to 300 K.

© 1985 Optical Society of America

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