Abstract

Accumulated photon echoes (APE) were used to measure the dephasing rates of Nd³⁺ in various inorganic glasses as a function of excitation wavelength, sample temperature, and laser power. Although dephasing processes of optical transitions in solids are of considerable interest, they are poorly understood, largely due to the lack of experimental data on femtosecond and picosecond time scales. The APE technique using sub-picosecond laser sources has made it possible to measure in the time domain dephasing rates of inhomogeneously broadened transitions in amorphous systems.^1,2

© 1991 Optical Society of America