Planar organic photonic crystals fabricated by soft lithography

Abstract

We employed mechanical patterning methods, including soft hot embossing andnanoimprinting lithography, to fabricate planar photonic crystal structures in organicmaterials, including both optically inert polymer matrices and light-emitting compoundsexhibiting optical gain. The mechanical lithography processes allow a high-fidelity patterntransfer without reducing the emission yield, thus opening the way to the one-step realizationof organic-based optoelectronic devices. Our demonstrators, presenting periodicities comprisedbetween 250 and 600 nm, include solid-state distributed feedback cavities, exhibitinglasing emission at 630 nm, with a linewidth of about 1 nm and a pump threshold of650 µJ cm−2 at room temperature. The potentiality of these techniques for the realization oftwo-dimensional planar photonic crystal structures is also presented and discussed.