Highly-photostable and mechanically flexible all-organic semiconductor lasers

Foucher, C., Guilhabert, B., Kanibolotsky, A.L., Skabara, P.J. , Laurand, N. and Dawson, M.D. (2013) Highly-photostable and mechanically flexible all-organic semiconductor lasers. Optical Materials Express, 3(5), pp. 584-597. (doi: 10.1364/OME.3.000584)

Abstract

Two formats of all-organic distributed-feedback lasers with improved photostability, respectively called nanocomposite and encapsulated lasers, are reported. These lasers are compatible with mechanically-flexible platforms and were entirely fabricated using soft-lithography and spin-coating techniques. The gain elements in both types of lasers were monodisperse π-conjugated star-shaped macromolecules (oligofluorene truxene, T3). In the nanocomposites lasers, these elements were incorporated into a transparent polyimide matrix, while in the encapsulated devices a neat layer of T3 was overcoated with Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The T3-nanocomposite devices demonstrated a 1/e degradation energy dosage up to ~27.0 ± 6.5 J/cm2 with a threshold fluence of 115 ± 10 µJ/cm2. This represents a 3-fold improvement in operation lifetime under ambient conditions compared to the equivalent laser made with neat organic films, albeit with a 1.6-time increase in threshold. The PVA-encapsulated lasers showed the best overall performance: a 40-time improvement in the operation lifetime and crucially no-trade-off on the threshold, with respectively a degradation energy dosage of ~280 ± 20 J/cm2 and a threshold fluence of 36 ± 8 µJ/cm2.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Skabara, Professor Peter
• Authors: Foucher, C., Guilhabert, B., Kanibolotsky, A.L., Skabara, P.J., Laurand, N., and Dawson, M.D.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry
• Journal Name: Optical Materials Express
• Publisher: Optical Society of America
• ISSN: 2159-3930
• ISSN (Online): 2159-3930
• Published Online: 10 April 2013