Light structured deposition (1): Material properties

An original light-assisted approach for optical-material deposition is introduced, and preliminary results concerning the properties of the deposits, in the case of As–S binary glass alloys, are reported for the first time. Such approach uses a continuous-wave laser source and on-axis geometry, to grow a semiconducting glass alloy onto a transparent substrate under the concurrent actuation of a given light-intensity distribution. Significant differences are observed when the material is prepared by using this technique, in comparison with those reported for similar alloys prepared by both physical- and chemical-vapor based techniques.