Are phase change materials ideal for programmable photonics?: opinion

The objective of this Opinion is to stimulate new research into materials that can meet the needs of tomorrow’s programmable photonics components. Herein, we argue that the inherent property portfolios of the common telluride phase change materials, which have been successfully applied in data storage technologies, are unsuitable for most emerging programmable photonics applications. We believe that newer PCMs with wider bandgaps, such as Sb 2 S 3 , Sb 2 Se 3 , and Ge 2 Sb 2 Se 4 Te (GSST), can be optimized to meet the demands of holographic displays, optical neural network memories, and beam steering devices.