Metastable optical anisotropy in chalcogenide glasses induced by unpolarized light

Abstract
Semiconducting chalcogenide glasses become optically anisotropic solids with the optical axis parallel to the direction of the inducing light beam after exposure to unpolarized light. This photoinduced anisotropy (PA) can be detected in bulk samples by means of a probing beam directed perpendicularly to an unpolarized inducing beam. In chalcogenide films, PA induced by an unpolarized glancing-angle beam can be detected by means of a probing beam that is incident normal to the films.