Holographic recording in amorphous chalcogenide thin films

Abstract Holographic recording by He–Ne laser (line 632.8 nm) light in amorphous As 0.55 Se 0.45 thin films for different film thickness and grating period was studied. A strong dependence of the diffraction efficiency of the gratings on the readout light wavelength (650 nm, 805 nm and 1150 nm) was observed. A decrease in diffraction efficiency for longer wavelengths is explained by a decrease in the photoinduced changes of refractive index. It is shown that high efficiency gratings can be recorded in As 0.55 Se 0.45 films with a thickness of ∼1 μm.