Shape-Dependent Optical Waveguides and Low-Threshold Lasers from Polymorphic Two-Dimensional Organic Single Crystals.

Abstract

Organic single crystals (OSCs) with uniform morphologies and highly ordered molecular aggregations are promising for high-performance optoelectronic devices, such as organic solid-state lasers (OSSLs), organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs), and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, manipulating OSC morphologies and aggregation is challenging. In this study, we synthesized two-dimensional (2D) OSCs of 4,4'-bis[(N-carbazole)styryl]biphenyl (BSBCz) in hexagonal and parallelogram microplate (H-MP and P-MP) forms. Both types exhibit H-aggregation in the 2D plate plane but with different molecular transition dipole moment (TDM) orientations. This leads to different photon coupling modes with H-MP and P-MP microcavities. H-MPs enable isotropic 2D-waveguiding, forming whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators, while P-MPs create unidirectional waveguiding, forming Fabry-Pérot mode (FP) resonators. These resonators can generate low-threshold laser emissions at 467 and 473 nm, respectively, and exhibit superior lasing stability with a half-life exceeding 2 h. Our BSBCz microplate OSCs are attractive candidates to combine controlled organic microcavities with photon transporting for realizing future integrated optoelectronic devices.