Optical hole burning with finite excitation time

This paper extends earlier calculations [M. Yamanoi and J. H. Eberly, Phys. Rev. A 34, 1609 (1986)] of hole burning using continuous excitation to the finite excitation time used in experiments on Pr:${\mathrm{LaF}}_3$. Both Gaussian-Markov (GM) and random-telegraph (RT) dephasing models are studied. For the GM model, a new feature is the appearance of nutation structure near the center of the hole for a 400-μsec excitation time. In contrast for RT, a similar, although much weaker, structure appears in the wings of the hole. It is noted that for finite excitation times, a detuning as well as the usual intensity dependence of the dephasing time appears.