Giant visible and infrared light attenuation effect in nanostructured narrow-bandgap glasses.

A unique effect of Bi on the optical and electrical properties of mixed Ga-containing Ge-Se and Ge-Te glasses is discovered. It is shown that glass with a low Bi content is completely transparent in a 3-16 μm spectral range, while the glass with a slightly higher Bi content possesses a large (>10  db/mm) attenuation coefficient, making a ∼millimeter thick glass sample fully opaque to VIS-IR radiation. Despite this contrast, both types of glass are found to retain their semiconducting properties, the DC conductivity at room temperature, σ∼10  S/m, being comparable to that of silicon.

Nanoscale Inhomogeneities Mapping in Ga-Modified Arsenic Selenide Glasses.

Nanoscale inhomogeneities mapping in Ga-modified AsSe glass was utilized exploring possibilities of nanoindentation technique using a Berkovitch-type diamond tip. Structural inhomogeneities were detected in Ga(AsSe) alloys with more than 3 at.% of Ga.