We present a technique to reduce the loss of storage capacity in time-domain optical memory in the presence of excitation-induced spectral diffusion. We applied this technique to a Eu↑(3+):Y↓(2)SiO↓(5)-based memory that utilizes frequency chirp for recording-retrieval and successfully stored 860 bits of data in a 40-MHz data channel. In comparison with the conventional chirp method under identical experimental conditions, the present technique offers an increase of a factor of -2 in storage capacity with no measurable loss of signal fidelity. The results are interpreted in terms of the phase error accumulated during dephasing-rephasing and spectral diffusion on excited-state relaxation. # 1997 Optical Society of America
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