Directional Polarized Light Emission from Thin-Film Light-Emitting Diodes.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with directional and polarized light emission have many photonic applications, and beam shaping of these devices is fundamentally challenging because they are Lambertian light sources. In this work, using organic and perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs) for demonstrations, by selectively diffracting the transverse electric (TE) waveguide mode while suppressing other optical modes in a nanostructured LED, the authors first demonstrate highly directional light emission from a full-area organic LED with a small divergence angle less than 3° and a TE to transverse magnetic (TM) polarization extinction ratio of 13. The highly selective diffraction of only the TE waveguide mode is possible due to the planarization of the device stack by thermal evaporation and solution processing.

Recovering cavity effects in corrugated organic light emitting diodes.

Cavity effects play an important role in determining the out-coupling efficiency of an OLED. By fabricating OLEDs on corrugated substrates, the waveguide and SPP modes can be extracted by diffraction. However, corrugation does not always lead to an enhancement in out-coupling efficiency due to the reduction of the electrode reflectance and hence the cavity effects.

Direct Acoustic Imaging Using a Piezoelectric Organic Light-Emitting Diode.

Conventional ultrasonic imaging requires acoustic scanning over a target object using a piezoelectric transducer array, followed by signal processing to reconstruct the image. Here, we report a novel ultrasonic imaging device that can optically display an acoustic signal on the surface of a piezoelectric transducer. By fabricating an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) on top of a piezoelectric crystal, lead zirconate titanate (PZT), an acousto-optical piezoelectric OLED (p-OLED) transducer is realized, converting an acoustic wave profile directly to an optical image.

Long-Wavelength Lead Sulfide Quantum Dots Sensing up to 2600 nm for Short-Wavelength Infrared Photodetectors.

Lead sulfide nanoparticles (PbS NPs) are used in the short-wavelength infrared photodetectors because of their excellent photosensitivity, band gap tunability, and solution processability. It has been a challenge to synthesize high-quality PbS NPs with an absorption peak beyond 2000 nm. In this work, using PbS seed crystals with an absorption peak at 1960 nm, we report a successful synthesis of very large monodispersed PbS NPs having a diameter up to 16 nm by multiple injections.

Alternative Patterning Process for Realization of Large-Area, Full-Color, Active Quantum Dot Display.

Although various colloidal quantum dot (QD) coating and patterning techniques have been developed to meet the demands in optoelectronic applications over the past years, each of the previously demonstrated methods has one or more limitations and trade-offs in forming multicolor, high-resolution, or large-area patterns of QDs. In this study, we present an alternative QD patterning technique using conventional photolithography combined with charge-assisted layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly to solve the trade-offs of the traditional patterning processes. From our demonstrations, we show repeatable QD patterning process that allows multicolor QD patterns in both large-area and microscale.

Perovskite Solar Cells on Corrugated Substrates with Enhanced Efficiency.

Organometallic halide perovskites solar cells are fabricated on nano-scaled corrugated substrates using a sequential deposition method. The corrugated substrates are fabricated using colloidal lithography followed by reactive ion etching. The corrugated structure is found to accelerate the chemical reaction between the sequentially deposited lead iodide (PbI ) and methyl ammonium iodide layers to form stoichiometric perovskite films, and the corrugated morphology is preserved at the interface of the hole transport layer (HTL) and the perovskite layer.

Monitoring of the Binding Between EGFR Protein and EGFR Aptamer Using In-Situ Total Internal Reflection Ellipsometry.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein has received significant attention in medical biotechnology because it is an important component in cell growth and division. We report the results of a study on the binding between the EGFR protein and the associated aptamer, measured in real time. Aptamers can be used for clinical purposes including macromolecular medicine and basic research.

Lithography-Free Broadband Ultrathin-Film Absorbers with Gap-Plasmon Resonance for Organic Photovoltaics.

Strategies to confine electromagnetic field within ultrathin film emerge as essential technologies for applications from thin-film solar cells to imaging and sensing devices. We demonstrate a lithography-free, low-cost, large-scale method to realize broadband ultrathi-film metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) absorbers, by exploiting gap-plasmon resonances for strongly confined electromagnetic field. A two-steps method, first organizing Au nanoparticles via thermal dewetting and then transferring the nanoparticles to a spacer-reflector substrate, is used to achieve broader absorption bandwidth by manipulating geometric shapes of the top metallic layer into hemiellipsoids.

Blue inorganic light emitting diode on flexible polyimide substrate using laser lift-off process.

The fabrication process for the blue GaN inorganic light emitting diode (ILED) on flexible polyimide (PI) substrate by laser lift off (LLO) method was demonstrated. The GaN epi-structure was grown on patterned sapphire wafer. GaN samples were temporary bonded with polyimide substrate by flexible silver epoxy.

Investigation of the dielectric function of solution-processed InGaZnO films using ellipsometry.

The optical properties of InGaZnO (IGZO) films grown through the sol-gel process as a function of sintering time were investigated with spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The IGZO precursor sol was prepared by mixing In nitrate, Ga nitrate, and Zn acetate at a molar ratio of In:Ga:Zn = 3:1:1. The solution was deposited on a SiO2/Si substrate via spin coating.