Deformation of a chalcogenide glass film under optical modulated excitation

Abstract We report a significant thinning of an amorphous chalcogenide film (at least 5% of its initial thickness) from the Ge-Sb-Se system deposited by RF magnetron sputtering method on a borosilicate substrate, namely a BK7. This phenomenon is due to a resonant symmetric vibration mode at a low frequency, in the tens of Hertz range. By exciting the material with modulated near-infrared light ( λ = 1.55  µm), we observe three transmission peaks of a probing light at slightly different frequencies of modulation. We assign these resonances to the air/chalcogenide, chalcogenide/BK7 and BK7/air interfaces. Under the effect of the optical modulated radiation pressure, the mechanical deformations of these interfaces show the contribution of associated surface tensions.