Multicolored Emission and Lasing in DCM-Adamantane Plasma Nanocomposite Optical Films

Abstract

We present a low-temperature versatile protocol for the fabrication of plasma nanocomposite thin films to act as tunable emitters and optical gain media. The films are obtained by the remote plasma-assisted deposition of a 4-(dicyano-methylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylamino-styryl)-4H-pyran (DCM) laser dye alongside adamantane. The experimental parameters that determine the concentration of the dye in the films and their optical properties, including light absorption, the refractive index, and luminescence, are evaluated. Amplified spontaneous emission experiments in the DCM/adamantane nanocomposite waveguides show the improvement of the copolymerized nanocomposites' properties compared to films that were deposited with DCM as the sole precursor. Moreover, one-dimensional distributed feed-back laser emission is demonstrated and characterized in some of the nanocomposite films that are studied. These results open new paths for the optimization of the optical and lasing properties of plasma nanocomposite polymers, which can be straightforwardly integrated as active components in optoelectronic devices.

Plasma Enabled Conformal and Damage Free Encapsulation of Fragile Molecular Matter: from Surface‐Supported to On‐Device Nanostructures

“…A detailed description of the reactor geometry is included in Section S6 (Supporting Information) and ref. Note that using this synthetic strategy it is possible to reduce very effectively the plasma interaction and fragmentation reducing effectively the fragmentation and cross‐linking degree of the growing film in comparison with conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition processes . Further information about the remote plasma synthesis of organic functional thin film nanocomposites can be found in previous works including a study of plasma parameters during the deposition of RPAVD films …”

“…The molecule is formed by four connected cyclohexane rings in armchair configuration with the same spatial symmetry as carbon atoms in diamond being nonpolymerizable by chemical methods. Even though adamantane has been previously used for the synthesis of various diamond‐like and organic films, their use in 3D, damage‐free nanoscale encapsulation has not been reported (see Section S1 in the Supporting Information for additional information).…”

Enhancing Moisture and Water Resistance in Perovskite Solar Cells by Encapsulation with Ultrathin Plasma Polymers

“…This methodology has been successfully applied in recent articles for the fabrication of photonics films based on organic dyes and small functional molecules working as optical sensors, optical filters, tunable photoluminescence emitters and lasing gain media. [28][29][30][31] This deposition process is compatible with opto-and micro-electronics components and can be scaled to large deposition areas and to wafer scale fabrication. 32,33 To our best knowledge, this is the first report where the deposition of an organic plasma nanocomposite thin film is employed to encapsulate perovskite solar cells.…”

Nanotechnology of diamondoids for the fabrication of nanostructured systems

“…A low concentration (0.05 ppm) of NO 2 in ambient conditions can be detected using the nanocomposite film (<15 min). Alcaire et al [124] have also reported a plasma-assisted vacuum deposition approach to fabricate 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylamino-styryl)-4H-pyran (DCM)/adamantane nanocomposite optical films for potential optoelectronic applications. Incorporation of adamantanes not only improves the optical quality but also enhances the thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability of the nanocomposite compared to unmodified DCM films.…”