Soft-potential model and homogeneous width of spectral lines of impurity centers in molecular amorphous media

Abstract

A study is made to analyze the possibility of using the soft-potential model in optical investigations of disordered molecular systems with impurities. A procedure is suggested for calculating the temperature dependence of the homogeneous width of a phononless line in amorphous media with impurities within the soft-potential model. A calculation is performed of the temperature dependence of the width of a phononless line (optical dephasing) in an amorphous system of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) with an addition of tetratert-butylterrylene (TBT) using the parameters of this system known from the literature. Calculations are performed of the contributions to the width of a phononless line due to the interaction of an impurity with tunneling two-level systems, with thermally activated barrier crossings in double-well potentials, and with quasilocal modes of the matrix. The model calculation results are compared with the experimental data on the photon echo for TBT/PMMA, measured by us in the temperature range from 0.3 to 20 K. It is found that the soft-potential model describes qualitatively correctly the temperature behavior of the homogeneous width of a phononless line. In the temperature range of T < 2 K, where the main contribution to optical dephasing is associated with tunneling two-level systems, the predicted values of phononless line width agree well with the experimental data. At higher temperatures, some difference is observed between the prediction and experimental data, which may be due to the effect of impurity on the formation of quasilocal oscillation of the matrix.