Fluorescence and persistent spectral hole burning of Eu in Ge-Ga-S-KBr glasses

Fluorescence and efficient persistent spectral hole burning of Eu³⁺ at 77 K were observed in chalcohalide glasses. The depth of the hole was approximately 30% after a burning process of 1 min with 50 mW power, and it was completely erased with Ar⁺ laser irradiation. The hole survived room temperature heat treatment and showed good thermal stability. The hole-burning mechanism was most probably the photo-reduction of Eu³⁺→Eu²⁺. Fluorescence from Eu³⁺ decreased with increasing temperature and disappeared at the temperature above ∼130 K.     

Signature of the ground-state topology in the low-temperature dynamics of spin glasses

We numerically address the issue of how the ground-state topology is reflected in the finite temperature dynamics of the +/-J Edwards-Anderson spin glass model. In this system a careful study of the ground-state configurations allows us to classify spins into two sets: solidary and nonsolidary spins. We show that these sets quantitatively account for the dynamical heterogeneities found in the mean flipping time distribution at finite low temperatures. The results highlight the relevance of taking into account the ground-state topology in the analysis of the finite temperature dynamics of spin glasses.     

Investigation of the boron-oxygen network in borate glasses by infrared spectroscopy

Lithium borate glasses are fast ionic conductors in which the lithium ions conductivity is all the more important as the content in lithium oxide and in lithium salt is higher. In the perspective of their use as electrolytes in solid state micro-batteries, we have studied the conformation of the boron-oxygen network of lithium halides “doped” glasses by MIR spectroscopy. The modifying properties of the lithium oxide on the binary system B₂O₃-Li₂O are investigated by the same technique and the results are used to understand the modifications of the boron-oxygen network induced by the “doping salt”. The observed results depend on the type of salt anions: fluoride anions participate directly to the O/B network while chloride and bromide anions are in interstitial position in the glass matrix.     

Room-temperature persistent spectral hole burning of Eu(3+) in sodium aluminosilicate glasses

Persistent spectral hole burning has been observed at 77 K, 180 K, and room temperature for Eu(3+) in sodium aluminosilicate glass melted under a reducing atmosphere. In particular, room-temperature persistent spectral hole burning is reported for the first time to our knowledge in Eu(3+) -doped materials. The persistent hole is accompanied by no antiholes and lasts for 1 h at least. The thermal stability of the hole is greater than that of a persistent hole burned for Eu(3+) in sodium aluminosilicate glass melted in air.     

Ultrashort-laser-pulse-induced persistent spectral hole burning of Eu(3+) in sodium borate glasses

We have observed persistent spectral hole burning (PSHB) in Eu(3+) -doped sodium borate glasses irradiated with near-IR femtosecond laser pulses. As-prepared glasses, i.e., glasses melted in air, do not show PSHB even at low temperatures (~77K) , but room-temperature PSHB occurs in the irradiated glasses. The exposure to IR radiation causes both the reduction of Eu(3+) to Eu(2+) and the formation of intrinsic defects. We propose that the photoinduced redistribution of electric charges between Eu(3+) to Eu(2+) is responsible for the occurrence of PSHB.     

Pressure effects on relaxation in a polymer glass: A persistent spectral hole burning study

The influence of hydrostatic pressure in the range of some kilobars on low-temperature (T < 20 K) relaxation in a polymer (polystyrene) glass after optical excitation of a probe chromophore in it is studied using two different kinds of spectral hole burning experiments—under isothermal-isobaric and in temperature cycling conditions. In the first case, the temperature dependence of the hole width reflects the dynamics of interaction of the electronic transition in a probe molecule with soft localized vibrational modes and with two-level systems, whereas, in the second case, the observed residual hole broadening after the temperature cycle arises from activated (overbarrier) transitions in almost symmetric double-well soft potentials. It is shown that both these processes are essentially suppressed by the applied hydrostatic pressure (the hole width in the first case and its increment in the second case are both reduced about twofold at 5 kbar). An extension of the soft potential model for glasses is proposed explaining in a coherent manner both effects. Its essential points are the presence in the potential of an extra term linear in pressure and the soft coordinate and an assumption about asymmetric distribution of the cubic anharmonicity parameter ξ in the potential.     

Characteristics of spectral-hole burning in Tm~(3+):YAG based on the perturbation theory

In this paper, the physical mechanism of the interaction between electromagnetic wave and spectral-hole burning crystal material is investigated in detail. In the small signal regime, a perturbation theory model is used to analyze the mechanism of spectral-hole burning. By solving the Liouville equation, three-order perturbation results are obtained. From the theoretic analysis, spectral-hole burning can be interpreted as a photon echo of the zero-order diffraction echo when the first optical pulse and the second optical pulse are overlapped in time. According to the model, the spectral-hole width is dependent on the chirp rate of the reading laser. When the chirp rate is slow with respect to the spectral features of interest,the spectral hole is closely mapped into time domain. For a fast chirp rate, distortions are observed. The results follow Maxwell–Bloch model and they are also in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Photoexcited carrier relaxation dynamics in pentacene probed by ultrafast optical spectroscopy: Influence of morphology on relaxation processes

We present a comparative study of ultrafast photoexcited state relaxation in pentacene single crystals and in pure and C₆₀-doped pentacene films using optical pump-probe spectroscopy. The photoinduced absorption spectra in pentacene crystals is consistent with a dominant singlet-triplet fission decay channel for above-gap excitation. This decay channel is suppressed in thin films and even further suppressed by electron trapping in C₆₀-doped films. Thus we show that suppression of triplet state production, which is necessary for free carrier formation and thus photovoltaic and photodiode performance, is controllable via sample morphology.     

Decay times of surface plasmon excitation in metal nanoparticles by persistent spectral hole burning

We describe a new technique to determine the homogeneous linewidths of surface plasmon resonances of metal nanoparticles and thus measure the decay time of this collective electron excitation. The method is based on spectral hole burning and has been applied to supported oblate Ag particles with radii of 7.5 nm. From the experimental results and a theoretical model of hole burning the linewidth of 260 meV corresponding to a decay time of 4.8 fs was extracted. This value is shorter than expected for damping by bulk electron scattering. We conclude that additional damping mechanisms have been observed and reflect confinement of the electrons in nanoparticles with sizes below 10 nm.     

Mossbauer, infrared and magnetic susceptibility studies of iron sodium borate glasses doped by sulphur

The affect of sulphur on the structural properties of iron sodium diborate glasses having the composition {(100−x)Na₂B₄O₇+xFe₂O₃}+yS, where x=0.05, 0.15 and 0.25 mol% and Y=0, 2.5 and 5 wt% was studied by infrared, Mossbauer spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements. It was found that, for samples having 5 mol% Fe₂O₃ and free from sulphur, the iron ions are present in both Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ states and also 92% of the total iron enters the glass network as a glass former. The ratio of Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ increases with increasing the iron content for sulphur-free samples and others containing sulphur. This ratio also decreases with increasing the sulphur content. The magnetic susceptibility was found to decrease with increasing the sulphur content. Also, the increase of Fe₂O₃ content led to a less symmetrical environment of Fe³⁺ ions and vice versa for the Fe²⁺ environment.     

Slow dynamics in colloidal glasses and porous media as probed by NMR relaxometry: assessment of solvent levy statistics in the strong adsorption regime

Mesoscopic media such as porous materials or colloidal pastes develop large specific surface area which strongly influence the dynamics of the embedded fluid. This fluid confinement can be used either to probe the interfacial geometry (frozen porous media) or the particle dynamics (paste and colloidal glass). In the strong adsorption regime, it was recently proposed that the effective surface diffusion on flat surface is anomalous and exhibits long time pathology (Lévy walks). This phenomena is directly related to the time and space properties of loop trajectories appearing in the bulk between a desorption and a readsorption step. The Lévy statistics extends the time domain of the embedded fluid dynamics toward the low frequency regime. An interesting way to probe such a slow interfacial process is to use field cycling NMR relaxometry. In the first part of this paper, we propose a simple theoretical model of NMR dispersion which only involves elementary time steps of the solvent dynamics near an interface (loops, trains, tails in relation with the confining geometry). In the second part, field cycling NMR relaxometry is used to probe the slow solvent dynamics in two type of interfacial systems: (i) a colloidal glass made of thin and flat particles (ii) two fully saturated porous media, the Vycor glass and MCM48 respectively. Experimental results are critically compared to closed-form analytical expressions and numerical simulations.     

Multiphonon relaxation of rare earth ions in borate,phosphate, germanate and tellurite glasses

Non-radiative multiphonon relaxation rates were obtained for excited electronic states in borate, phosphate, germanate and tellurite glasses. The rates were calculated from the intensities of fluorescence in the visible range of the spectrum, the measured radiative transitions and the decay times of fluorescence. A functional dependence was found between the relaxation rates and the energy gaps of the rare earth ion. It was shown that by changing the glass host from the borate to tellurite matrix, an increase in visible fluorescence was achieved. This was especially notable in Er³⁺, where the increase of fluorescence from germanate to tellurite was by a factor of 15.     

Effects of network topology, transmission delays, and refractoriness on the response of coupled excitable systems to a stochastic stimulus

We study the effects of network topology on the response of networks of coupled discrete excitable systems to an external stochastic stimulus. We extend recent results that characterize the response in terms of spectral properties of the adjacency matrix by allowing distributions in the transmission delays and in the number of refractory states and by developing a nonperturbative approximation to the steady state network response. We confirm our theoretical results with numerical simulations. We find that the steady state response amplitude is inversely proportional to the duration of refractoriness, which reduces the maximum attainable dynamic range. We also find that transmission delays alter the time required to reach steady state. Importantly, neither delays nor refractoriness impact the general prediction that criticality and maximum dynamic range occur when the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix is unity.     

On the possibility of optical measurement of strains by persistent spectral hole burning in an opaque sample

A method proposed for persistent spectral hole burning makes it possible to store (“photograph”) the field structure of dynamic and static strains and to choose an appropriate point of measurement in the bulk of a sample. Another intriguing possibility consists in measuring strains in a material opaque to light. To do this, optical fibers (light guides) should be embedded in the sample and activated by impurities sensitive to hole burning, i.e., having good zero-phonon lines in their spectra.     

Conductivity relaxation in zirconium fluoride glasses: effect of substitution of Zr by Y ions

The electrical conductivity and the conductivity relaxation of (55−x)ZrF₄–15BaF₂–xYF₃–30LiF glasses were studied in the temperature range from 300 K to just below the glass transition temperature and in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 2 MHz. No large changes in the conductivity were observed with the substitution of Zr⁴⁺ by the Y³⁺ ions. The activation energy remained almost constant up to 20 mol.% YF₃ content and increased for higher YF₃ content in the glass compositions. The frequency dependent conductivity was analyzed in terms of modulus formalism. The distribution parameter for the conductivity relaxation times remained almost unchanged with the substitution of YF₃ with an increase for 40 mol.% YF₃ content. The distribution of relaxation times of the present glasses was much broader than that for the YF₃-free zirconium fluoride glasses. The glass decoupling index decreased and the modulus relaxation rate increased with the increase of YF₃ content in the glass compositions with an anomaly for the composition having 20 mol.% YF₃ content.     

结构自还原效应对铋掺碱土金属硅磷铝硼玻璃超宽带近红外发光的影响

本文报道了结构自还原对铋掺杂碱土金属硅磷铝硼玻璃超宽带近红外发光性质的影响. 以Eu作为对比, 在空气气氛中采用高温熔融法分别制备了Eu₂O₃和Bi₂O₃掺杂的35SiO₂-25AlPO₄-12.5Al₂O₃-12.5B₂O₃-15RO(R=Ca,Sr,Ba) 玻璃. 结果证实该玻璃中可发生Eu³⁺→Eu²⁺的高温自还原现象, 且随着碱土金属离子半径增大Eu²⁺ 的自还原性减弱; 同样条件下Bi位于1300 nm波段的近红外发光却随之增强, 而位于1100 nm波段近红外发光和源于Bi²⁺的红光则减弱. 根据结构自还原机理及碱土离子半径变化对玻璃近红外超宽带发光性质的影响, 讨论了Bi离子的近红外发光中心的归属. 上述研究表明玻璃结构自还原特性可以为Bi近红外发光机理研究以及高效Bi掺杂超宽带近红外发光玻璃的设计提供一种有效的思路和方法. 关键词： 玻璃 铋掺杂 近红外发光 自还原效应