Abstract
Phase-change materials (PCMs) have great potential in applications for data storage, optical switching and tunable photonic devices. However, heating the whole of the phase change material at a high speed presents a key challenge. Here, for the first time, we model the incorporation of the phase-change material (Ge2Sb2Te5) within a metamaterial perfect absorber (MMPA) and show that the temperature of amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 can be raised from room temperature to > 900K (melting point of Ge2Sb2Te5) in just a few nanoseconds with a low light intensity of 150 W/m(2), owing to the enhanced light absorption through strong plasmonic resonances in the absorber. Our structure is composed of an array of thin gold (Au) squares separated from a continuous Au film by a Ge2Sb2Te5 layer. A Finite Element Method photothermal model is used to study the temporal variation of temperature in the Ge2Sb2Te5 layer. It is also shown that an absorber with a widely tunable spectrum can be obtained by switching between the amorphous and crystalline states of Ge2Sb2Te5. The study lowers the power requirements for photonic devices based on a thermal phase change and paves the way for the realization of ultrafast photothermally tunable photonic devices. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1101-1110 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Optical Materials Express |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2013 |
Keywords
- NEAR-INFRARED LIGHT
- GOLD NANORODS
- CHANGE MEMORY
- GE2SB2TE5
- FILMS
- CRYSTALLIZATION
- NANOSTRUCTURES
- SURFACE
- CELL