Giant photoinduced optical bleaching at room and liquid helium temperatures in Sb/As2S3 multilayered films

We report the observation of giant photo induced optical bleaching in Sb/As₂S₃ multilayered film at room and liquid He temperatures, when irradiated with 532 nm laser at moderate intensities. The experimental results show a dramatic increase in transmittance near the band gap regime at both the temperatures; however the rates at which transmission change occurs are rather slow at low temperature. The huge change in transmission is due to the photo induced intermixing of As₂S₃ layer with Sb. Our XPS measurements show that photo induced intermixing occurs through the wrong homopolar bonds, which under actinic light illumination are converted into energetically favored hetropolar bonds.