Characterizing optical phase-change materials with spectroscopic ellipsometry and polarimetry

This paper discusses the fundamentals, applications, potential and limitations of polarized light reflection techniques for the characterization of phase-change materials (PCMs). These techniques include spectroscopic ellipsometry, time-resolved ellipsometry and imaging ellipsometry as well as polarimetry. We explore the capabilities of spectroscopic ellipsometry in the determination of the extinction coefficient of PCMs and the capabilities of imaging ellipsometry to characterize PCMs. We show that ellipsometry is capable of more than the determination of thickness and optical properties, and it can be exploited to gain information about crystallization/amorphization kinetics and mapping anisotropies.