Crystals doped with europium ions are known to exhibit ultrasharp hole burning at cryogenic temperatures. In fact, in these materials, the homogeneous widths (hole widths) are extremely narrow (<1 kHz, the narrowest in any solid state) compared to the inhomogeneous absorption widths (〜10 GHz), and the holes are persistent. These findings indicate that the Eu-doped crystals are a candidate for ultrahigh-density frequency-domain optical memory. In addition, due to short bleaching times, even real-time recording of a moving image is possible using a holographic technique. For the first time we succeeded in realizing a holographic motion picture using Eu^<3+> : Y_2SiO_5.
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