Tailoring of organic nanofiber growth for a new type of waveguides

Frank Balzer; Laxman Kankate; Horst Niehus; Horst-Günter Rubahn

doi:10.1117/12.645703

23 February 2006 Tailoring of organic nanofiber growth for a new type of waveguides

Frank Balzer, Laxman Kankate, Horst Niehus, Horst-Günter Rubahn

Proceedings Volume 6117, Organic Photonic Materials and Devices VIII; 61170E (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.645703
Event: Integrated Optoelectronic Devices 2006, 2006, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

It has been shown recently, that organic nanofibers grown from para-hexaphenyl and from α-sexithiophene molecules can be used as a new type of nanoscopic waveguides. Their growth is due to a self-assembly process, thus large quantities of aligned nanofibers can be fabricated simultaneously. Because of the growth mechanism of the nanofibers, their widths and heights are limited to a few 100 nm and a few 10 nm, respectively. In this paper we show how this kind of control has been obtained via modification of the bare muscovite surface before organic molecule deposition. Introducing e.g. a thin layer of Au islands before nanofiber growth results in an up to 15-fold increase in height, whereas the mean width and the optical properties of the fibers remain almost unchanged. Au films of varying thickness lead to tailor-made height profiles along the fiber. Using atomic force microscopy the details of these Au/organic heterostructures are examined and the growth is compared to growth on untreated mica. By scratching the fibers with an AFM tip grating structures have been written into the fibers.

Citation Download Citation

Frank Balzer, Laxman Kankate, Horst Niehus, and Horst-Günter Rubahn "Tailoring of organic nanofiber growth for a new type of waveguides", Proc. SPIE 6117, Organic Photonic Materials and Devices VIII, 61170E (23 February 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.645703

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