Fine structures in the optical absorption spectra of photochemical silver in silver halides? A call for further research

A survey is presented of the work done so far to check earlier claims that a fine structure may be observed to occur under certain circumstances in the impurity spectral range of the optical absorption spectra of silver halides following photostimulation in the intrinsic range. This structure, associated with the photochemical formation of silver specks, has been questioned over the years. We now weigh carefully the experimental evidence on the silver halides against a background of similar data on the alkali halides, where competing processes run slower. We come to the conclusion that present day advances in experimental techniques may be quite adequate for providing a solid experimental basis to solve the problem unambiguously.