Rewritable and Tunable Laser-Induced Optical Gratings in Phase-Change Material Films.

Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) can be fabricated in virtually all types of solid materials and show great promise for efficient and scalable production of surface patterns with applications in various fields from photonics to engineering. While the majority of LIPSS manifest as modifications of the surface relief, in special cases, laser impact can also lead to periodic modulation of the material phase state. Here, we report on the fabrication of high-quality periodic structures in the films of phase-change material GeSbTe (GST).