Electric Field-Tuned Polymer Amplified Spontaneous Emission

After an external laser pulse/beam is used to pump a conjugated polymer, such as poly(phenylene vinylene) (PPV), the continuous optical pumping reverses the electron populations in a polymer light-emitting diode, leading to amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). This is accompanied by localized lattice distortion along the polymer chain due to the excitation of a singlet exciton. With the application of an electric field along the polymer, the inversion of electron population is weakened. Once the strength of the applied electric field exceeds a certain threshold, it leads to the aberrance of the localization contributed by the excitation of exciton, which not only forbids the electron transition, but quenches the ASE. (C) 2011 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.001203jes] All rights reserved.