Spectral Hole Burning and its Applications for Picosecond Optical Data-Processing

Zero-phonon lines in impurity optical spectra and their inhomogeneous broadening are discussed. Photoburning of persistent spectral holes is not only an effective method to eliminate the inhomogeneous broadening and perform high resolution spectroscopy, but it serves also as a powerful tool to control by means of illumination the absorption coefficient and refractive index of the matter. It opens new horizons for frequency-selective optical memories, data storage and data processing. Hole burning by picosecond pulses and the time-and space-domain holography based on it are discussed and the results of the experiments described.