Crystallization behavior of As40Se60 glass

•The basic characteristics of as-prepared and annealed As40Se60 glasses are studied.•The crystallize structure change from oval to whisker-like shape with increasing annealing temperature.•The infrared transmittance decreases after annealing but recovers again by polished the sample surface. The thermal annealing of As40Se60 glass and its optical properties were studied and compared with other chalcogenide glasses. It is found that the infrared transmittance of As40Se60 decreases after higher temperature annealing, but it can be recovered to a level near the original glass transmittance after surface polishing, which is different from 0.3PbSe-0.7Ge1.5AS0.5Se3 and 96Ge20Sb10Se65Te5-4CsI glasses. Analysis shows that the crystalline mainly occurs on the As40Se60 surface layer. ​SEM analysis shows that the crystalline phase in As40Se60 glass changes from oval to whisker-like shape as the annealing temperature increases, and the higher the temperature, the longer the branch.