hole-burning spectroscopy


hole-burning spectroscopy

[′hōl ‚bərn·iŋ spek′träs·kə·pē] (spectroscopy) A method of observing extremely narrow line widths in certain ions and molecules embedded in crystalline solids, in which broadening produced by crystal-site-dependent statistical field variations is overcome by having a monochromatic laser temporarily remove ions or molecules at selected crystal sites from their absorption levels, and observing the resulting dip in the absorption profile with a second laser beam.