Superfluorescent transients of an inhomogeneously broadened Q-switched nuclear-magnetic-resonance system

Strongly inverted /sup 19/F spins have been used to investigate the transient response of a low-Q CaF/sub 2/ NMR laser after Q switching. The experiments are in fair agreement with the numerical results from a mean-field approach to superfluorescence. The model is based on a set of Bloch-type dynamic order-prarmeter equations for a distribution of spin packets. It takes into account such well-known phenomena as spin fanning, hole burning, and spectral diffusion and, therefore, links basic concepts of nonlinear optics with conventional NMR in solids.