Enhancing surface plasmon leakage at the metal/semiconductor interface: towards increased light outcoupling efficiency in organic optoelectronics

The light outcoupling efficiency of organic light-emitting optoelectronic devices is severely limited by excitation of tightly bound surface plasmon polaritons at the metal electrodes. We present a theoretical study of an organic semiconductor-silver-SiO(2) waveguide and demonstrate that by simple t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOptics express Vol. 22; no. 7; pp. 7644 - 7656
Main Authors Kohl, Jesse, Pantina, Joseph A, O'Carroll, Deirdre M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 07.04.2014
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Summary:The light outcoupling efficiency of organic light-emitting optoelectronic devices is severely limited by excitation of tightly bound surface plasmon polaritons at the metal electrodes. We present a theoretical study of an organic semiconductor-silver-SiO(2) waveguide and demonstrate that by simple tuning of metal film thickness and the emission regime of the organic semiconductor, a significant fraction of surface plasmon polariton mode amplitude is leaked into the active semiconductor layer, thereby decreasing the amount of optical energy trapped by the metal. At visible wavelengths, mode leakage increases by factors of up to 3.8 and 88 by tuning metal film thickness and by addition of gain, respectively.
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ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.22.007644