On a chaotic potential field in vitreous As2Se3

Some experimental results of the vitreous As₂Se₃ investigation (the photoconductivity spectrum of volume examples, the temperature dependence of the thermoelectric E.M.F., the shift of the optical edge under the temperature and pressure) may be explained by the use of fluctuations of an internal potential field. A hypothesis about the nature of chaotic potential field is proposed, which is based on a negligible magnitude of the gap deformation potential D_g = D_c ? D_v, where D_c and D_v are deformation potentials of band edges. By this hypothesis the fluctuations of the substance density in glass generate the chaotic potential field of magnitude about a half of the gap E_g, while the gap magnitude fluctuates only slightly within some per cent of E_g. It is shown that the displacement of the optical edge at As₂Se₃ amorphization may be a demonstration of the deformation nature of the chaotic potential field in this material.