Optical characterization of photosensitive AMTIR-1 chalcogenide thin layers deposited by electron beam deposition

•Deposition of optical quality chalcogenide layers•Determination of the dispersion of the fabricated layer both in transparent and absorbing regions•Study of the effect of deposition parameters on optical properties•Study of the photosensitivity of these layers•Study of the stability of the fabricated layers

Amorphous Ge33As12Se55 films have been deposited by electron beam physical vapor deposition and their optical properties have been studied using reverse engineering on spectrophotometric measurements. Definition of the different optical constants was made by Tauc-Lorentz model allowing simultaneous characterization in high and low absorption area. Moreover an investigation of the layer's photosensitivity with an exposure wavelength at ~ 808 nm has been carried out and reveals a photo-bleaching effect generating up to 0.04 refractive index variation at 1 μm. Finally the stability of the fabricated layers is studied.