Optical properties of conducting polymers in nano-scale periodic structure, microcavities and photonic crystals

Abstract

Properties of conducting polymers such as photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) depend on the molecular structure of the main chain and also substituents which influences on dimensionality, effective conjugation length and therefore electronic energy schemes and dynamics of excitons. Conducting polymers in nano-scale periodic structures such as multilayers, microcavities and photonic crystals exhibit novel optical characteristics such as unique EL and PL characteristics. Spectral narrowing of PL and lasing with low threshold of excitation intensity have been observed in conducting polymer films in microcavities and also in photonic crystals, synthetic opals with periodicity of several hundreds nano-meter, infiltrated with conducting polymers. Lasing characteristics in synthetic opals are found to be dependent on the periodicity of opalsand also refractive index of the solvent used for infiltration. Polymer replica of synthetic opals with periodic structures also exhibits novel electrical and optical characteristics.