Spectral Hole Burning and Photophysics in Dye-Doped Solids: A Comparison between Polymers and Silicon-Based Xerogels

Abstract

An overview of recent results concerning molecular doped solids is presented. The hole burning performances and the photophysics of polymer and xerogel-based systems are compared. Three areas are considered in more detail: the problem of electron-phonon coupling, the one of high-temperature persistent spectral hole burning materials, and the search for new frequency-selective photosensitive systems for fast optical pulse processing at 800 nm. This comparison demonstrates that molecular doped polymers and molecular doped xerogels have similar hole burning behavior but mechanisms in these systems can be different. However, in respect of the areas considered, inorganic hosts based on silicate xerogels or porous glasses have shown the best results. Moreover, all the possibilities of hybrid xerogels created by combining inorganic and organic capabilities or by grafting organic species to the host have not yet been revealed.