DYNAMICAL PROCESSES IN EXCITED-STATES OF CR3+ PROBED BY THE RAMAN EFFECT

By exposing single crystals of chromium doped α Al2O3, Y3Al5O12, ZnAl2O4 and Be3Al2(SiO3)6 to 1 W of radiation of an cw argon-ion laser operating at λ = 514.5 nm, part of this radiation is absorbed and population takes place of the component levels of 2E which are - for these solids - between 14410 cm-1 and 14720 cm-1 above the ground state of Cr3+. That part of the laser radiation not absorbed by the sample is sufficiently intense to excite electronic Raman transition between the component levels of 2E. Inhomogeneous and homogeneous broadening processes are responsible for the width of emission lines and the effect of these processes reveal themselves quite clearly if the temperature dependent line width of the electronic Raman transition is compared to that of the phosphorescence transitions which connect the levels of 2E with the ground state. Of the two processes, the homogeneous broadening process is of interest here because its dynamical aspects can be probed using the electronic Raman process as a tool. © 1979.