Sub-ten nanosecond phase cycling of high contrast GeSbTe- and AgInSbTe-films

GeSbTe and AglnSbTe compounds are currently receiving strong interest as suitable materials for optical data storage devices. We have set out to determine the cycability of samples with maximum optical contrast between phases using shorter pulse durations. It is possible to amorphize and recrystallize both GeSbTe-compositions with laser pulses of a few nanoseconds and that the transformation is accomplished in the sub-ten nanosecond regime. Thus, phase cycling with high optical contrast (up to 30 % for Ge4Sb,Te5) can be achieved without compromising the transformation speed.