Advanced Materials, Vol.16, No.12, 1001-1001, 2004
Light amplification by optical excitation of a chemical defect in a conjugated polymer
A small fraction of narrow-bandgap benzothiadiazole (BT) 'defects' covalently integrated into the main chain of a wide-bandgap polyfluorene (PF) polymer minimizes self-absorption effects via efficient energy transfer from absorbing PF segments to emitting BT 'defects'. A threshold for amplified spontaneous emission in a glass/polymer/air optical waveguide as low as 15 kW cm(-2) is achieved.