| Abstract | Recent studies by DeVoe and Brewer [Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 1269 (1983)] have shown that the conventional optical Bloch equations markedly fail to describe the optical saturation behavior of the D1 line in the solid Pr3+:LaF3. In this paper we extend these studies to another solid, ruby, using free-induction-decay observations obtained by pulse excitation of the R1 line at 693.4 nm with an ultranarrow-linewidth dye laser. Comparison of the results with Gauss-Markov and random-telegraph-dephasing theories shows approximate agreement for a fluctuation correlation time τc=T2, the dephasing time. This result is remarkably similar to that obtained for Pr3+:LaF3. However, for theoretical and experimental reasons, we conclude that the theories do not consistently explain the current as well as other data. A qualitative discussion of another dephasing model is given. |
|---|
