Laser Action in Pi-Conjugated Polymer Microcavities

Polymers in general are a class of materials known tobe excellent insulators. However p-conjugatedpolymers are different in that they possesssemiconductor characteristic properties. Theyactually can be transformed into excellent conductorswith conductivities close to those of good metals bydoping. In addition to electrical conductivity,p-conjugated polymers also show luminescence uponelectrical or optical excitation. Furthermorestimulated emission is another crucial feature ofsuch materials that provides the possibility ofattaining laser action. The present work concentrateson a small class of p-conjugated polymer materialsthat could provide laser action when opticallyexcited, namely the DOO-PPV polymer. In particular weused the lasing properties of this polymer toinvestigate a variety of microcavities as well as thenatural microcavities that are formed in the polymerfilms and give rise to random laser action. Abdullah Tulek took his BS degree from the Physics Department ofBogazici University in Istanbul in 2001.Then he earned his masterand Ph.D. degree from the Physics Department at the University ofUtah in years of 2003 and 2007. Currently he is a postdoctoralresearch associate at the Institute of Material Science andNanotechnology in Ankara.