The Synthesis of New Chalcogenides from the System GeTe6-Cu and a Layered Structure Based on Them and an Azo Polymer for Application in Optoelectronics

New bulk chalcogenides from the system (GeTe6)1−xCux, where x = 5, 10, 15 and 20 mol%, have been synthesized. The structure and composition of the materials were studied using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was applied to analyze the surface morphology of the samples. Some thermal characteristics such as the glass transition, crystallization and melting temperature and some physico-chemical properties such as the density, compactness and molar and free volumes were also determined. The XRD patterns show sharp diffraction peaks, indicating that the synthesized new bulk materials are crystalline. The following four crystal phases were determined: Te, Cu, CuTe and Cu2GeTe3. The results from the EDS confirmed the presence of Ge, Te and Cu in the bulk samples in concentrations in good correspondence with those theoretically determined. A layered thin-film material based on Ge14Te81Cu5, which exhibits lower network compactness compared to the other synthesized new chalcogenides, and the azo polymer PAZO was fabricated, and the kinetics of the photoinduced birefringence at 444 nm was measured. The results indicated an increase in the maximal induced birefringence for the layered structure in comparison to the non-doped azo polymer film.