Lasing action in organic semiconductor thin films

Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science

Volumn 4, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 203-208

  Kozlov, V G ^a   Forrest, S R ^a  

^a Princeton University   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0001681670     PISSN: 13590286     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S1359-0286(99)00006-6     Document Type: Article

References (33)

1. Tang C.W., VanSlyke S.A. Organic electroluminescent diodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 51:1987;913.
2. Burroughes J.H., Bradley D.D.C., Brown A.R., Marks R.N., Mackay K., Friend R.H., Burns P.L., Holmes A.B. Light-emitting diodes based on conjugated polymers. Nature (London). 347:1990;539.
3. Broude V.L., Mashkevich V.S., Prikhotko A.F., Prokopuk N.F., Soskin M.S. On the possibility of stimulated emission in systems with electronic vibrational levels. Fiz. Tverd Tela. 4:1962;2976. The concept of using dye molecules in lasers was proposed.
4. Sorokin P.P., Lankard J.R. Stimulated emission observed from an organic dye, chloro-aluminum phtalocyanine. IBM J. Res. Dev. 10:1966;162. Spectral line narrowing observed in the photoluminescence of liquid dye solutions was identified as stimulated emission.
5. Soffer B.H., McFarland B.B. Continuously tunable, narrow-band organic dye lasers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 10:1967;266. Amplified spontaneous emission was observed in liquid solutions and plastic films doped with dye molecules.
6. Kogelnik H., Shank C.V. Stimulated emission in a periodic structure. Appl. Phys. Lett. 18:1971;152. The first distributed feedback laser was demonstrated employing gels doped with an organic dye.
7. Schafer F.P. Dye Lasers. 1977;Springer-Verlag.
8. Karl N. Laser emission from an organic molecular crystal. Phys. Stat. Sol. (a). 13:1972;651.
9. Avanesyan H.S., Benderskii V.A., Brinkenstein V.Kh., Broude V.L., Lavrushko A.G. Stimulated radiation of tetracene impurity-containing antracene crystals. Phys. Stat. Sol (a). 19:1973;K121. First realization of organic lasers employing non-radiative Forster energy transfer excitation processes. It was found that Förster energy transfer reduces the lasing threshold by five orders of magnitude compared to lasers with direct optical excitation of light-emitting molecules.
10. Helfrich W., Schneider W.G. Recombination radiation in antracene crystals. Phys. Rev. Lett. 14:1965;229.
11. Moses D. High quantum efficiency luminescence from a conducting polymer in solution: A novel polymer laser dye. Appl. Phys. Lett. 60:1992;3215.
12. Tessler N., Denton G.J., Friend R.H. Lasing from conjugated-polymer microcavities. Nature (London). 382:1996;695. Amplified spontaneous emission was demonstrated in thin conjugated polymer films placed in a microcavity structure. However, lasing action was not actually observed in these structures as was noted by the authors in a subsequent publication: Denton GJ, Tessler N, Stevens MA, Friend RH, Adv Mater. 1997;9:547.
13. Hide F., Diaz-García M.A., Schwartz B.J., Andersson M.R., Pei Q., Heeger A.J. Semiconducting polymers: a new class of solid-state laser materials. Science. 273:1996;1833. Spectral gain narrowing was observed in a variety of conjugated polymers employing waveguide structures.
14. Frolov S.V., Ozaki M., Gellermann W., Vardeny Z.V., Yoshino K. Mirrorless lasing in conducting polymer poly (2, 5-dioctyloxy-p-phenylenevinylene). J Appl. Phys. 35:1996;1371. Amplified spontaneous emission was observed in conjugated polymer waveguides. The optical gain and photo-induced absorption spectra were measured in these materials employing pump and probe experiments.
15. Brouwer H.J., Krasnikov V.V., Hilberer A., Hadziioannou G. Blue superradiance from neat semiconducting alternating copolymer films. Adv. Mater. 8:1996;935.
16. McGehee M.D., Diaz-García M.A., Hide F., Gupta R., Miller E.K., Moses D., Heeger A.J. Semiconducting polymer distributed feedback lasers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 72:1998;1536. Lasing action demonstrated in optically pumped neat films of conjugated polymers employing distributed optical feedback.
17. Frolov S.V., Vardeny Z.V., Yoshino K. Plastic microring lasers on fibers and wires. Appl. Phys. Lett. 72:1998;1802. Laser emission demonstrated using cylindrical microcavities formed by conjugated polymer thin films on glass fibers and metal wires.
18. Kozlov V.G., Bulovic V., Burrows P.E., Forrest S.R. Laser action in organic semiconductor waveguide and double-heterostructure devices. Nature (London). 389:1997;362. Lasing was observed in optically pumped thin films of small-molecular-weight organic semiconductors doped with laser dye molecules employing Forster energy transfer. Very low lasing thresholds demonstrated in these systems are comparable to electrical current densities achievable in OLEDs based on these materials, opening the possibility for realization of organic diode lasers.
19. Berggren M., Dodabalapur A., Slusher R.E. Stimulated emission and lasing in dye-doped organic thin films with Forster energy transfer. Appl. Phys. Lett. 71:1997;2230. Lasing demonstrated in thin films of small-molecular-weight organic semiconductors doped with laser dye molecules employing distributed Bragg reflectors and microdiscs for optical feedback.
20. Bulovic V., Kozlov V.G., Khalfin V.B., Forrest S.R. Transform-limited, narrow-linewidth lasing action in organic semiconductor microcavities. Science. 279:1998;553. Lasing demonstrated in organic semiconductor microcavities. The narrow spectral linewidth of laser emission is emphasized.
21. Kozlov V.G., Bulovic V., Khalfin V.B., Forrest S.R. Temperature independent performance of organic semiconductor lasers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 71:1997;2575. The output power, lasing threshold and emission wavelength of organic lasers was found to be independent of temperature, in contrast to inorganic diode lasers.
22. Kallinger C., Hilmer M., Haugeneder A., Perner M., Spirkl W., Lemmer U., Feldmann J., Scherf U., Mullen K., Gombert A., Wittwer V. Flexible conjugated polymer laser. Adv. Mater. 10:1998;920.
23. Kozlov V.G., Bulovic V., Burrows P.E., Baldo M., Khalfin V.B., Parthasarathy G., Forrest S.R. Study of lasing action based on Förster energy transfer in optically pumped organic semiconductor thin films. J. Appl. Phys. 84:1998;4096. Summary of many results and challenges faced by molecular organic semiconductor lasers.
24. Pope M., Swenberg C.E. Electronic processes in organic crystals. 1982;Oxford University Press, New York.
25. Berggren M., Dodabalapur A., Slusher R.E., Bao Z. Light amplification in organic thin films using cascade energy transfer. Nature (London). 389:1997;466. Demonstration of lasing action employing cascade Forster energy transfer, tuning the emission wavelength from 400 to 800 nm.
26. Coldren L.A., Corzine S.W. Diode lasers and photonic integrated circuits. 1995;Wiley, New York.
27. Sze S.M. Physics of semiconductor devices. 1981;Wiley, New York.
28. Henry C.H. Theory of spontaneous emission noise in open resonators and its application to lasers and optical amplifiers. J. Lightwave Technol. LT-4:1986;288.
29. Hosokawa C., Tokailin H., Higashi H., Kusumoto T. Transient behavior of organic thin film electroluminescence. Appl. Phys. Lett. 60:1992;1220.
30. Yamamori A., Adachi C., Koyama T., Taniguchi Y. Doped organic light emitting diodes having a 650-nm-thick hole transport layer. Appl. Phys. Lett. 72:1998;2147.
31. Parthasarathy G., Burrows P.E., Khalfiri V.B., Kozlov V.G., Forrest S.R. A metal-free cathode for organic light emitting devices. Appl. Phys. Lett. 72:1998;2138.
32. Tessler N., Harrison N.T., Friend R.H. High peak brightness polymer light-emitting diodes. Adv. Mater. 10:1998;64. The optical properties of polymer thin films under strong electrical excitation were studied. Polaron-induced absorption was identified as an obstacle for realization of organic diode lasers.
33. Kozlov VG, Burrows PE, Parthasarathy G, Forrest SR. Optical properties of molecular organic semiconductor thin films under intense electrical excitation, unpublished. Induced transparency and absorption were observed in thin films of small-molecular-weight organic semiconductors under strong electrical excitation. Problems in realization of organic diode lasers related to polaron absorption are discussed.