  Phase changing materials (PCM) are widely used for optical data recording,
sensing, all-optical switching, and optical limiting. Our focus here is on the
case when the change in the transmission characteristics of the optical
material is caused by the input light itself. Specifically, the light-induced
heating triggers the phase transition in the PCM. In this paper, using a
numerical example, we demonstrate that incorporating the PCM in a photonic
structure can lead to a dramatic modification of the effects of light-induced
phase transition, as compared to a stand-alone sample of the same PCM. Our
focus is on short pulses. We discuss some possible applications of such
phase-changing photonic structures for optical sensing and limiting.
