Walfort Sebastian, Holle Nils, Vehndel Julia, Yimam Daniel T, Vollmar Niklas, Kooi Bart J, Salinga Martin
Institute of Materials Physics, University of Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 10, 48149, Münster, Germany.
Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 3, Groningen, 9747, The Netherlands.
Adv Mater. 2025 Mar;37(9):e2414687. doi: 10.1002/adma.202414687. Epub 2025 Jan 13.
As a phase change material (PCM), antimony exhibits a set of desirable properties that make it an interesting candidate for photonic memory applications. These include a large optical contrast between crystalline and amorphous solid states over a wide wavelength range. Switching between the states is possible on nanosecond timescales by applying short heating pulses. The glass state is reached through melting and rapid quenching through a supercooled liquid regime. While initial and final states are easily characterized, little is known about the optical properties on the path to forming a glass. Here we resolve the entire switching cycle of antimony with femtosecond resolution in stroboscopic optical pump-probe measurements and combine the experimental results with ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations. The glass formation process of antimony is revealed to be a complex multi-step process, where the intermediate transient states exhibit distinct optical properties with even larger contrasts than those observed between crystal and glass. The provided quantitative understanding forms the basis for exploitation in high bandwidth photonic applications.
作为一种相变材料（PCM），锑展现出一系列理想特性，使其成为光子存储应用中一个引人关注的候选材料。这些特性包括在很宽的波长范围内，晶体态和非晶态固态之间存在较大的光学对比度。通过施加短加热脉冲，能在纳秒时间尺度内实现两种状态之间的切换。玻璃态是通过熔化并经过过冷液态区域快速淬火形成的。虽然初始态和终态易于表征，但对于形成玻璃态过程中的光学特性却知之甚少。在此，我们通过频闪光学泵浦 - 探测测量，以飞秒分辨率解析了锑的整个切换循环，并将实验结果与从头算分子动力学模拟相结合。结果表明，锑的玻璃形成过程是一个复杂的多步过程，其中中间瞬态呈现出独特的光学特性，其对比度甚至比晶体与玻璃之间的对比度还要大。所提供的定量认识为高带宽光子应用的开发奠定了基础。
