Engineering J-aggregate cavity exciton-polariton devices

Research efforts in solution-based dye lasers and organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have led to advances in materials engineering and fabrication technology, propelling the field of organic solid-state photonics. Active areas of photonic research in organic systems include solid-state lasers (in both VCSEL and DFB form factor), low-threshold optical switches, and photodetectors. In all of these areas, thin films of "Jelley aggregates," or J aggregates, offer a promising materials platform thanks to their narrow linewidth and high oscillator strength at room temperature, properties resulting from delocalization of excitations across multiple strongly-coupled molecules. By placing these films in an optical microcavity, the aggregates exhibit additional strong-coupling to the cavity electric field, creating light-matter quasi-particles known as exciton-polaritons, even at room temperature. In this thesis, I discuss my research on the properties of J-aggregate thin films and on advancing the device and materials engineering of strongly-coupled devices based on J-aggregate thin films to the level of those in inorganic semiconductor systems. Exciton-polariton systems have been extensively studied at cryogenic temperatures in II-VI and III-V semiconductor quantum well systems in the past two decades as potential low-threshold VCSELs.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Bradley, Michael Scott

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Vladimir Bulović.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/53196

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/53196