POLARIZATION-DEPENDENT, LASER-INDUCED ANISOTROPIC PHOTOCRYSTALLIZATION OF SOME AMORPHOUS-CHALCOGENIDE FILMS

We report tile observation of the influence of light polarization on t he photocrystallization process and oil the properties of crystallized films. In addition with linearly polarized He-Ne laser light results in the preparation of polycrystalline films with strong optical anisot ropy (dichroism), the sign of which is determined by the direction of the electrical vector of light. The results obtained allow one to sele ct hom previously proposed mechanisms of photocrystallization. Large v alues of photoinduced dichroism in the films studied can be interestin g for different applications of photoinduced anisotropy. (C) 1997 Amer ican Institute of Physics.