Persistent spectral hole-burning in a Eu3+-doped aluminosilicate glass from 8 to 295 K: Study of the burning and refilling kinetics, and of optical dephasing

High-temperature persistent spectral hole-burning (PSHB), up to room temper ature, has been observed in a Eu3+-doped aluminosilicate glass using a high peak-power nanosecond dye laser. Spontaneous refilling as well as thermal cycling measurements show that at least two mechanisms, a fast and a slow o ne, are involved in our sample. We suggest that the fast or "easy" componen t may correspond to a non-photochemical local rearrangement of the host or to photoreduction of the EU3+ ions and that the second one leading to very stable photoproducts may correspond to transfer of an electron over a sizab le distance through a several-step process. The mechanisms we suggest agree with light-induced hole refilling measurements. Line broadening mechanisms are discussed and the temperature-dependent part of the homogeneous width and of the spectral shift is interpreted in terms of a two-phonon (Raman) p rocess involving pseudo-local phonons.