# Photoplastic effects in chalcogenide glasses: A review

## TL;DR

This review discusses how light induces changes in the mechanical and structural properties of chalcogenide glasses, emphasizing the role of photoviscous effects in various photoinduced phenomena and applications.

## Contribution

It critically analyzes experimental data to identify the photoviscous effect as central to photoinduced changes and details specific photoplastic effects using in situ Raman and nanoindentation studies.

## Key findings

- Photoviscous effect causes athermal viscosity decrease in chalcogenide glasses.
- Photoplastic effects can alter shape and surface morphology.
- Photoviscous effects underpin many photoinduced phenomena in these materials.

## Abstract

A synopsis of the various photoinduced changes of rheological, mechanical and elastic properties is presented in the first part of the article. After a critical appraisal of a large body of experimental data it suggested that the photoviscous effect, that is, the athermal decrease of viscosity of a non-crystalline chalcogenide upon illumination is the key for a plethora of photoinduced effects reported so far in the literature under different names. Morphic effects (shape or surface morphology) may ap-pear either in the presence or absence of external mechanical stimuli leading to the fabrication of a variety of technologically important photoprocessed structures. A few representative examples of photoplastic effects are described, in the second part of the paper, in some detail based on information provided by in situ Raman scattering and nanoindentation experiments.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/0908.1588