Abstract

Recently the sol-gel process for preparing amorphous materials has been studied. The low processing temperatures enable us to dope the gel with functional organic molecules. Such molecules have poor thermal stability and cannot be included in traditional oxide glasses. Avnir et al.^1,2) have been reported the preparation and optical properties of amorphous silica doped with rhodamine 6G and pyrene. Makishima and Tani^3,4) have doped one with 1,4-dihydr-oxy-9,10-anthraquinone (DAQ) and showed photochemical hole burning (PHB) at 4.8 K. They have also demonstrated that other organic molecules can be successfully incorporated into sol-gel matrices. The number of potential applications of such materials is expected to be substantial.

© 1991 Optical Society of America