Optical Stark spectroscopy of solids

Optical Stark spectroscopy of solids has been closely associated with Alexander Kaplyanskii over the last four decades. The field is reviewed here with some emphasis on the use of spectral hole burning and coherent transient techniques to measure linear and quadratic Stark coefficients. Examples are drawn from a wide range of materials including transition metal and rare-earth-doped insulators, color centers, organic molecular solids and semiconductors. Tabulation of data drawn from the literature of the last 50 years is juxtaposed to give some perspective and suggest material, which might benefit from future application of high-resolution spectroscopic techniques.