The Ultrafast Optical Response of the Amorphous and Crystalline States of the Phase Change Material Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$

TL;DR

This study investigates the ultrafast optical responses of amorphous and crystalline Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$, revealing distinct dielectric behaviors and the effects of lattice motion and electronic excitation without inducing phase change.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of the ultrafast optical responses of amorphous and crystalline GST, highlighting different dielectric mechanisms and the role of coherent phonons.

Findings

Amorphous GST's response is dominated by photo-carrier Drude behavior.

Crystalline GST's response involves depopulation of resonant bonds.

Coherent phonons influence amorphous more than crystalline phase.

Abstract

We examine the ultrafast optical response of the crystalline and amorphous phases of the phase change material Ge$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ below the phase transformation threshold. Simultaneous measurement of the transmissivity and reflectivity of thin film samples yields the time-dependent evolution of the dielectric function for both phases. We then identify how lattice motion and electronic excitation manifest in the dielectric response. The dielectric response of both phases is large but markedly different. At 800 nm, the changes in amorphous GST are well described by the Drude response of the generated photo-carriers, whereas the crystalline phase is better described by the depopulation of resonant bonds. We find that the generated coherent phonons have a greater influence in the amorphous phase than the crystalline phase. Furthermore, coherent phonons do not influence resonant bonding. For fluences up to 50% of the transformation threshold, the structure does not exhibit bond softening in either phase, enabling large changes of the optical properties without structural modification.