Luminescence and Fluorescence Line Narrowing of Doped Glasses

Optical transitions on dopant ions in glass exhibit a large inhomogeneous broadening due to the random nature of the sites occupied by the dopant ions. The technique of fluorescence line narrowing (FLN) can overcome this inhomogeneous broadening and permit sharp luminescence transitions to be observed. These sharp transitions can carry detailed information about the behaviour of the dopant ions in the glass and about the dynamical properties of the host material. A number of such studies are reviewed.