F-Center Excitation Energy Transfer to CN$^-$ vibrational Levels in CsCl

The rapid quenching dynamics of the F-center excitation by CN- defects in CsCl crystals were investigated by monitoring the ground state bleach recovery kinetics of F-centers, using a picosecond streak camera absorption spectrometer. The F-centers in CN- doped quenched samples show two bleach recovery components. Optical aggregation converts the slow component to the fast component. The slow one is due to the normal relaxation of the F*-centers as found in CN_ free crystals. The fast one is due to the energy transfer of the F-center electronic excitation to the vibrational energy levels of CN_ molecualr defects. The energy transfer occurs only in the F-center-CN_ defect pairs, FH(CN_)-centers.