This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9895, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

Our work deals with dynamic response of semitransparent organic photodetectors over a large frequency range for high and low light illumination intensities through performing a detailed transient response of the device at pulsed photoexcitation of green emission. We present systematic simulation based on drift diffusion approach to analyzing the effect of unbalance charge carrier mobility and non-uniform absorption of thin film organic photodetector on dynamic response of the device. Our result suggests engineering of the interface layers is critical to achieve high performance device for high-speed applications.

The emission properties of rhodamine-6G doped step-index cladded and uncladded thermoset fibres have been studied for a transversal excitation configuration. Measurements include a deep analysis of the amplified spontaneous emission and a detailed study of the optical gains of the fibres by using the Variable-Stripe Length method. The evolution of the emission spectra as a function of the propagation distance has also been reported for both one-photon emission and twophoton emission. Comparisons of the results of the cladded fibres with those of the uncladded ones are presented and discussed.

Supramolecular self-assembled bio-inspired peptide nanostructures are favorable to be implemented in diverse nanophotonics applications due to their superior physical properties such as wideband optical transparency, high second-order nonlinear response, waveguiding properties and more. Here, we focus on the optical properties found in di-phenylalanine peptide nano-architectures, with special emphasize on their linear and nonlinear optical waveguiding effects. Using both simulation and experiments, we show their ability to passively guide light at both fundamental and second-harmonic frequencies. In addition, we show that at elevated temperatures, 140-180°C, these native supramolecular structures undergo irreversible thermally induced transformation via re-assembling into completely new thermodynamically stable phase having nanofiber morphology similar to those of amyloid fibrils. In this new phase, the peptide nanofibers lose their second-order nonlinear response, while exhibit profound modification of optoelectronic properties followed by the appearance of visible (blue and green) photoluminescence (PL). Our study propose a new generation of multifunctional optical waveguides with variety of characteristics, which self-assembled into 1D-elongated nanostructures and could be used as building blocks of many integrated photonic devices.

In this work, a new organic light-emitting device (OLED) structure is proposed that allows light-emission from a metal-free device region, thus reducing the hurdles towards an electrically pumped organic solid state laser (OSL). Our design concept employs a stepwise change from a highly conductive but opaque metal part to a highly transparent but less conductive intrinsic emission layer. Here, the high current densities are localized to an area of a few micrometer in square, which is in the range of the mode volume of the transverse mode of an organic vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). Besides these experimental results, we present findings from simulations which further support the feasibility of our design concept. Using an equivalent circuit approach, representing the current flow in the device, we calculate the time-dependent length of the emission zone and give estimations for appropriate material parameters.

Organic laser sources offer the opportunity to integrate flexible and widely tunable lasers in polymer waveguide circuits, e.g. for Lab-on-Foil applications. Therefore, it is necessary to understand gain and degradation processes for long-term operation. In this paper we address the challenge of life-time (degradation) measurements of photoluminescence (PL) and optical gain in thin-film lasers. The well known guest-host system of aluminum-chelate Alq₃ (Tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum) as host material and the laser dye DCM2 (4-(Dicyanomethylene)-2- methyl-6-julolidyl-9-enyl-4H-pyran) as guest material is employed as laser active material. Sample layers have been built up by co-evaporation in an ultrahigh (UHV) vacuum chamber. 200nm thick films of Alq₃:DCM2 with different doping concentrations have been processed onto glass and thermally oxidized silicon substrates. The gain measurements have been performed by the variable stripe length (VSL) method. This measurement technique allows to determine the thin-film waveguide gain and loss, respectively. For the measurements the samples were excited with UV irradiation (ƛ = 355nm) under nitrogen atmosphere by a passively Q-switched laser source. PL degradation measurements with regard to the optical gain have been done at laser threshold (approximately 3 μJ/cm²), five times above laser threshold and 10 times above laser threshold. A t₅₀-PL lifetime of > 107 pulses could be measured at a maximum excitation energy density of 32 μJ/cm². This allows for a detailed analysis of the gain degradation mechanism and therefore of the stimulated cross section. Depending on the DCM2 doping concentration C the stimulated cross section was reduced by 35 %. Nevertheless, the results emphasizes the necessity of the investigation of degradation processes in organic laser sources for long-term applications.

One of the well-known red light emitting laser dyes is 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)-4Hpyran (DCM). Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) has been widely investigated of DCM molecules or its derivatives in polymer or low molecular weight matrix. The main issue for these molecules is aggregation which limits doping concentration in matrix. Lowest ASE threshold values within concentration range of 2 and 4 wt% were obtained. In this work ASE properties of two original DCM derivatives in poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) at various concentrations will be discussed. One of the derivatives is the same DCM dye with replaced butyl groups at electron donor part with bulky trytiloxyethyl groups (DWK-1). These groups do not influence electron transitions in the dye but prevent aggregation of the molecules. Second derivative (DWK-2) consists of two equal donor groups with the attached trytiloxyethyl groups. All results were compared with DCM:PVK system. Photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) is almost three times larger for DWK-1 concentration up to 20wt% with respect to DCM systems. PLQY was saturated on 0.06 at higher DWK-1 concentrations. Bulky trytiloxyethyl groups prevent aggregation of the molecules thus decreasing interaction between dyes and numbers of non-radiative decays. Red shift of photoluminescence and amplified spontaneous emission at higher concentrations were observed due to the solid state solvation effect. Increases of dye density in matrix with smaller lose in PLQY resulted in low ASE threshold energy. The lowest threshold value was obtained around 29 μJ/cm² in DWK-1:PVK films.

An electrical driven organic solid state laser is a very challenging goal which is so far well beyond reach. As a step towards realization, we monolithically implemented an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) into a dielectric, high quality microcavity (MC) consisting of two Distributed Bragg Reectors (DBR). In order to account for an optimal optical operation, the OLED structure has to be adapted. Furthermore, we aim to excite the device not only electrically but optically as well. Different OLED structures with an emission layer consisting of Alq3:DCM (2 wt%) were investigated. The External Quantum Efficiencies (EQE) of this hybrid structures are in the range of 1-2 %, as expected for this material combination. Including metal layers into a MC is complicated and has a huge impact on the device performance. Using Transfer-Matrix-Algorithm (TMA) simulations, the best positions for the metal electrodes are determined. First, the electroluminescence (EL) of the adjusted OLED structure on top of a DBR is measured under nitrogen atmosphere. The modes showed quality factors of Q = 60. After the deposition of the top DBR, the EL is measured again and the quality factors increased up to Q = 600. Considering the two 25-nm-thick-silver contacts a Q-factor of 600 is very high. The realization of a suitable encapsulation method is important. Two approaches were successfully tested. The first method is based on the substitution of a DBR layer with a layer produced via Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). The second method uses a 0.15-mm-thick cover glass glued on top of the DBR with a 0.23-μm-thick single-component glue layer. Due to the working encapsulation, it is possible to investigate the sample under ambient conditions.

We report a systematic computational investigation on the electronic and optical properties of some representive polyaromatic hydrocarbons of interest for solid-state applications. We focus in particular on the five first members of the circumacenes family (i.e., coronene, ovalene, circumanthracene, circumtetracene, and circumpentacene). For the isolated gas-phase molecules we performed all-electrons Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Time Dependent DFT (TDDFT) calculations with a localized Gaussian basis-set and the hybrid exchange-correlation functional B3LYP. We quantified the effect of the complete substitution of peripheral hydrogen atoms with fluorine atoms for a series of key molecular properties relevant for molecular electronics and photonics: electron affinities, ionization energies, quasi-particle energy-gaps, optical absorption spectra, and exciton binding energies. We discuss the possible implications of the general trends observed with respect to both fundamental research and opto-electronic applications.

We investigate the effect of the incorporation of CdSe quantum dots (QD) in the standard ITO/TPD/Alq3/Al organic light emitting diodes (OLED's). The OLED's structures have been prepared in a double glove box coupled to a vacuum chamber containing both low and high temperature evaporators. For the standard (undoped) OLED's, the hole transport layer (HTL) consisting of 50nm of TPD is deposited by spin coating (8000rpm during 60 sec) and the 40nm of Alq3 were deposited at 2A/sec (organic crucible Radak-I). 150nm of Al were finally evaporated at 5A/s. For the CdSe-doped OLED's, the procedure was the same expect that the QD's were mixed with TPD in toluene before spin coating. During the thermal processing if the film, the QD's are expected to segregate to the surface, and then will be located at the TPD/Alq3 interface. The various layers were imaged by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) at each phase of the structure deposition, and we could indeed visualize the segregated QD's above the TPD film. AFM was systematically used to monitor the homogeneity and the thickness of the various films. The impedance of the non-encapsulated films structures were measured in air in the 40-40MHz frequency range, with bias at 0V (non-emitting), 2V (low emission) and 8V (strong emission). The corresponding dielectric spectra were analyzed with the standard Havriliak-Negami (HV) formula, where the conductive term has been subtracted from the data in case of light emission. We have measured a relaxation ranging from 100kHZ for the unbiased structure to 1MHz for 8V (strong emission). Apart from this expected relaxation, we found a second relaxation mechanism around 10 MHz. The origin of this second peak will be discussed. To monitor the optical emission of the OLED's, we have built a specific bench which allows for the quantitative measurement of the emission spectra and the dynamics behavior of the OLED's (raising and falling time). We found that the incorporation of the QD's unfortunately results in the decrease of the light emission but with a favorable modification of the light spectrum (around 700nm).

After the success of commercialization of the vacuum-evaporated organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), solutionprocessing or printing of OLEDs are currently attracting much research interests. However, contrary to various kinds of readily available vacuum-evaporable OLED materials, the solution-processable OLED materials are still relatively rare. Hole-transporting layer (HTL) materials for solution-processed OLEDs are especially limited, because they need additional characteristics such as cross-linking to realize multilayer structures in solution-processed OLEDs, as well as their own electrically hole-transporting characteristics. The presence of such cross-linking characteristics of solutionprocessable HTL materials therefore makes them more challenging in the development stage, and also makes them essence of solution-processable OLED materials. In this work, the structure-property relationships of thermally crosslinkable HTL materials were systematically investigated by changing styrene-based cross-linking functionalities and modifying the carbazole-based hole-transporting core structures. The temperature dependency of the cross-linking characteristics of the HTL materials was systematically investigated by the UV-vis. absorption spectroscopy. The new HTL materials were also applied to green phosphorescent OLEDs, and their device characteristics were also investigated based on the chemical structures of the HTL materials. The device configuration was [ITO / PEDOT:PSS / HTL / EML / ETL / CsF / Al]. We found out that the chemical structures of the cross-linking functionalities greatly affect not only the cross-linking characteristics of the resultant HTL materials, but also the resultant OLED device characteristics. The increase of the maximum luminance and efficiency of OLEDs was evident as the cross-linking temperature decreases from higher than 200°C to at around 150°C.

In organic photovoltaics (OPV), perylene diimide (PDI) acceptor materials are promising candidates to replace the commonly used, but more expensive fullerene derivatives. The use of alternative acceptor materials however implies new design guidelines for OPV devices. It is therefore important to understand the underlying photophysical processes, which either lead to charge generation or geminate recombination. In this contribution, we investigate radiative losses in a series of OPV materials based on two polymers, P3HT and PTB7, respectively, which were blended with different PDI derivatives. Our time-resolved photoluminescence measurements (TRPL) allow us to identify different loss mechanisms by the decay characteristics of several excitonic species. In particular, we find evidence for unfavorable morphologies in terms of large-scale pure domains, inhibited exciton transport and incomplete charge transfer. Furthermore, in one of the P3HT-blends, an interfacial emissive charge transfer (CT) state with strong trapping character is identified.

Ferroelectric liquid crystalline mixtures composed of a smectic liquid crystal, a photoconductive chiral dopant, and an electron trap reagent exhibit a large photorefractivity with a rapid response. It is expected that the photorefractive FLC blends can be utilized in dynamic amplification of moving optical signals. In the present study, the photorefractive properties of the ferroelectric liquid crystal blends containing different photoconductive chiral dopants were examined. The durability of the photoconductive chiral dopants during laser irradiation was investigated. Tthe effect of the conduction of photogenerated ionic species on the photorefractivity decay was clarified.

Photogeneration efficiency and charge carrier extraction from active layer are the parameters that determine the efficiency of organic photovoltaics (OPVs). Devices made of organic materials often consist of thin (up to 100nm) layers. At this thickness different interface effects become more pronounced. The electron affinity and ionization energy shift can affect the charge carrier transport across metal-organic interface which can affect the performance of the entire device. In the case of multilayer OPVs, energy level compatibility at the organic-organic interface is as important. Photoemission yield spectroscopy was used for organic-organic interface study by ionization energy measurements. In this work we studied “sandwich” type samples of two well-known organic photovoltaic materials- poly(3- hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Ionization energy changes at the P3HT/PCBM interface depending on PCBM layer thickness were studied. P3HT layer was obtained by spin-coating while PCBM was deposited on the P3HT by thermal evaporation in vacuum. No ionization energy shift of P3HT was observed. On the contrary, PCBM at the interface with P3HT created additional 0.40eV barrier for hole transport from PCBM to P3HT.