Photoinduced phenomena in chalcogenide glasses and their application in optoelectronics

Abstract

The interaction of radiation with vitreous materials provokes irreversible and reversible changes of atomic and electronic structures. These changes in their turn manifest themselves in the experiment through changes of mechanical, thermal, optical, photoelectrical and other characteristics. Under the radiation influence the structure of vitreous materials changes, new defects appears, film crystallization or amorphization takes place, phase transition or transition from one unstable state to another. It is evident that such changes radically influence the optical and photoelectrical properties of the material: the refraction index and other optical material constants change; reflection and absorption of light as well as photoelectric parameters. Of no less importance is the appearance of new possibilities for application of vitreous materials as optical and photoelectrical recording media, fibers and planar waveguides, active and passive elements of optoelectronics, including nonlinear elements and sensors of different physical quantities. This paper covers a survey of works dedicated to the research of various photoinduced phenomena in bulk, thin-film and fiber samples of chalcogenide glassy semiconductors.