Efficient optical gain media comprising binary blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole)

We report the results of a study of the optical gain properties of binary blend films of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (RR-P3HT) and poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT). Efficient optical gain is observed in the 10-20 wt.% RR-P3HT composition range and can be tuned to the ∼650 nm window utilised for polymer optical fibre data-communications, with maximum gain ∼50 cm -1. At higher P3HT fractions, gain thresholds increase substantially, consistent with the observed concomitant improvement in photocharge generation. Distributed feed back lasers with one-dimensional gratings exhibit pump pulse thresholds as low as 8 nJ (26μJ cm -2, 2.17 kW cm -2), lower than many other polymer-based gain media in this wavelength range. They also provide relatively high slope efficiencies 2. The confluence of efficient optical gain with electronic properties that are conducive to charge carrier injection and transport is relatively novel and is expected to be a necessary requirement for the achievement of electrically pumped lasing. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.