Abstract
The phase transformation of Ge2Sb2Te5 films from the melt-quenched amorphous phase into the crystalline phase induced by 800 nm, 100 fs laser pulses has been studied. For partly amorphized films, progressive crystallization could be induced by single pulses, which can be explained by growth of already existing crystalline embryos. For completely amorphized films, it was not possible to induce crystallization with one or two consecutive pulses; three pulses being the threshold for the onset of crystallization. By employing a fs laser double pulse with an adjustable inter-pulse delay, partial crystallization could be triggered for a delay range of 200 fs–100 ps, while for longer delays no crystallization was possible. The time window for stimulated crystallization can be related to the relaxation dynamics of free electrons excited by the first pulse, which are further excited by the second pulse still remaining in the excited state. Our results indicate that the lifetime of excited electrons in melt-quenched amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 is ≈100 ps.
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