The kinetics of the laser induced structural changes in As2S3 amorphous films

The intensity dependent complex character of the photodarkening of virgin As2S3 samples exposed to continuous wave (CW) and pulsed laser radiation has been measured. Excitation in the CW and pulsed (picosecond) regime for the same irradiation doses leads to significant differences in the photodarkening curves. It is shown that the kinetics of the photodarkening can be decomposed into several processes related to structural transformations in As2S3: defect elimination and stabilization, polymerization of the structural entities, decomposition followed by arsenic clustering and arsenic oxidation.