Room-temperature persistent spectral hole burning in Sm-doped KLaF4 crystals

Persistent spectral hole burning is observed at room temperature in the excitation spectrum for the 7F0→5D0 transition of Sm2+ in KLaF4 single crystals. The hole width and depth are about 10 cm−1 and 18% of the total intensity, respectively. It is concluded that the dominant burning mechanism in this crystal is a photoionization of electron trapping at a site other than Sm3+ ions because of the absence of an antihole around the burned hole.