RECORDING, STORAGE, AND REPRODUCTION OF INFORMATION BY MEANS OF PHOTON-ECHO

Theoretical and experimental works devoted to the explanation of photo n-echo applications to recording, storage, and reproduction of informa tion are reviewed. The influence of various characteristics of excitin g pulses on the shape of the photon echo and its modifications signals is discussed. Conditions of the correlation between the temporal shap e of the photon echo and its modifications signals and the temporal sh ape of one of the exciting pulses ate considered. It is emphasized tha t the signal of those photon-echo modifications that are formed by exc iting pulses in resonance with different atomic transitions can reprod uce the temporal shape of one of the exciting pulses with some squeezi ng or stretching. Various mechanisms of long-lived stimulated photon-e cho formation and the perspectives of information storage on the basis of such echoes are discussed.