NON-PHOTOCHEMICAL HOLE BURNING AS A PROBE OF GLASS STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES

$^{1}$ P. W. Anderson, B. I. Halperin and C. M. Varma, Philos., Mag 25, 1, (1972). $^{2}$ Phillips, W. A., J. Lou Temp. Phys. 7, 351 (1972).""Author Institution: Ames Laboratory, USDOE, Iowa State UniversityA model for laser Induced non-photochemical hole burning in the electronic absorption spectra of aromatic hydrocarbons in alcoholic glasses is proposed. The model is baaed upon the presence of a distribution of double well potentials within the glass. Hole burning occurs because a portion of that distribution is such that barrier crossing in the excited state is rapid, whereas ground state barrier crossing is slow. Holes burnt at different temperatures correspond to probing different portions of the distribution of double well potentials. From analysis of hole widths, the states of solvent isomerizations may be inferred. This model is analogous to one previously proposed to explain the anomalous thermal properties of $^glasses^{1,2}$ Hole burning provides a new method to verify some of the predictions of that theory