Ultra-slow light propagation by self-induced transparency in ruby in the superhyperfine limit.

Self-induced transparency is reported for circularly polarized light in the R1(-3/2) line of a 30 ppm ruby (α-Al2O3:Cr3+) at 1.7 K in a magnetic field of B‖c=4.5 T. In such a field and temperature, a 30 ppm ruby is in the so-called superhyperfine limit resulting in a long phase memory time, TM=50 µs, and a thousand-fold slower pulse propagation velocity of ∼300 m/s was observed, compared to the ∼300 km/s measured in the first observation of self-induced transparency (SIT) ∼50 years ago, that employed a ruby with a 500 ppm chromium concentration in zero field and at 4.2 K. To date, this is the slowest pulse propagation ever observed in a SIT experiment.

Room temperature hole-burning of X-ray induced Sm(2+) in nanocrystalline Ba0.5Sr0.5FCl0.5Br0.5:Sm(3+) prepared by mechanochemistry.

Alloyed nanocrystalline Ba0.5Sr0.5FCl0.5Br0.5 doped with Sm(3+) ions was prepared by a facile ball milling method at room temperature. Spectral hole-burning properties of Sm(2+) ions from X-irradiated sample were investigated in the (7)F0-(5)D0 transition between 2.5 K and room temperature. The alloying allows a "chemical" broadening of the inhomogeneous width of the (7)F0-(5)D0 f-f transition to 40 cm(-1); spectral holes with a homogeneous width of 5 cm(-1) can be burnt, yielding a figure-of-merit of Γinh/Γhom = 8. Mechanochemical preparation methods have a significant potential for the preparation of functional materials for applications in frequency domain optical data storage and as X-ray storage phosphors by allowing the preparation of tailored solid solutions.