Laser-induced structural relaxation and crystallization phenomena in the picosecond time scale in GeSbO thin films

Structural relaxation phenomena in the ps time scale have been observed upon pulsed laser irradiation of (GeSb)O amorphous films. The transformation of the irradiated surfaces has been temporally resolved by means of in situ optical techniques with ns and ps resolution. The results show the occurrence of structural relaxation phenomena in a time shorter than 600 ps in the as-deposited material or about 200 ps in thermally relaxed samples. In the latter case, a substantial amount of crystalline material is nucleated at the initial stage of the transformation.