Organic materials for spectral hole burning and non-hole burning optical filters

Abstract

A brief overview of spectral properties and applications of organic materials for narrowband persistent spectral hole burning (SHB) and non-hole burning optical spectral filters is presented. The main focus is on the properties important for the filter applications in ultrasound-modulated optical tomography (UOT). Due to the large inhomogeneous broadening, the organic SHB filters may be used after the more narrowband primary SHB filters made of RE ion doped inorganic crystals to reduce red-shifted fluorescence from RE ions and improve the image quality. In addition non-hole burning organic materials, as secondary absorption optical filters to reduce phonon-mediated fluorescence from inorganic SHB crystals in UOT applications, are considered.