Low-Power Phase Transition of Chalcogenide Glass Using Au Nanoparticle Plasmon Resonance

Tun Cao*, Kuan Liu, Li Lu, Jianxun Liu, Yan Jun Liu, Kai Rong Qin, Hsiang Chen Chui, Robert E. Simpson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Chalcogenide materials are attractive for all-photonic phase-change memories owing to their large optical contrast between amorphous and crystalline structural phases. However, high-power heating pulses are required to switch these structural phases, which can limit the cyclability. To reduce power, Au nanoparticles (NPs) are embedded in a typical chalcogenide phase-change material, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST). Raman analysis shows that a GST film crystallizes at a low optical power of 2 mW, which is almost 10 times lower than that of materials not embedded with NPs. This lower power is owing to the enhanced light absorptance through the strongly localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the Au NPs. The Au NPs embedded in the GST film scatter light at λ = 587 nm, which is close to Au NP's LSPR of ≈535 nm. Laser light at 532 nm is used to measure Raman scattering from the Au–GST system. The Raman scattering is enhanced by a factor 12 compared with a bare GST film. This study indicates that the GST film–Au NP system is suitable for high-speed, low-power, phase-change memory and for a new type of tunable surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1901570
JournalAdvanced Optical Materials
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by Singapore-China Joint Research Program (JRP) with grant number 2015DFG12630 from the International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China and an A*STAR AME Programmatic Grant A18A7b0058 (Singapore). T.C. acknowledges support from the Program for Liaoning Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. LJQ2015021). L.L. is grateful for his Ministry of Education President's Graduate Fellowship.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Keywords

  • mid-infrared
  • phase-change materials
  • surface plasmon resonance
  • surface-enhanced Raman scattering
  • tunable

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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