Luminescence, intrinsic photoeffect, and color-center conversion in anisotropic crystals under femtosecond laser excitation

Abstract

The spatial-temporal dynamics of the photochemical conversion of color centers with varying multipolarity and orientation of quantum transitions in irradiated anisotropic crystals exposed to pulsed polarized femtosecond optical radiation and the resulting spatial distribution of the residual and newly-formed color centers are studied. The properties of the concurrent luminscence and photoconductive processes closely related to the photochemical transformation of light-absorbing quantum systems are also examined. A femtosecond laser technique is proposed, which allows extended spatial-periodic structures or narrow profiles of color-center concentrations, including single thin layers or dips, to be formed at a specified depth from the crystal surface through photochemical transformations.