High-contrast polarization spectroscopy of photochemically burned spectral holes in amorphous solids: Potential for fast optical storage.

Polarization spectroscopy is used to detect persistent spectral holes photochemically burned into the electronic absorption band of a guest molecule in an amorphous host. Tetraphenylporphin doped into a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) matrix is studied as an example. The polarization technique improves the contrast ratio (increase of intensity at the hole over background) by a factor of more than 200. Applications to fast readout of optical memories and line-narrowing spectroscopy are discussed