Films of chalcogenide glasses as perspective materials for optical information recording

Scalar and vectorial photoinduced processes in films of chalcogenide glasses (ChG) As-S-Se- Te and Ge-S-Se-Pb systems are considered. Both irreversible and reversible highly resolving materials for recording and storage of optical information, sensitive in a wide spectral range, including the near infra-red region, are developed. The photosensitivity of some films can be increased 103 - 104 times when excitation is accomplished by very short intense laser pulses. The polarization information recording (reversible and irreversible) is fulfilled for some ChG films and is based on the phenomena of photoinduced linear dichroism and polarized photodoping of the films by silver. The application of the ChG films in systems of optical information recording, in holography, and in integral optics is discussed.