Polarized white light from hybrid organic/III-nitrides grating structures.

Highly polarised white light emission from a hybrid organic/inorganic device has been achieved. The hybrid devices are fabricated by means of combining blue InGaN-based multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with a one-dimensional (1D) grating structure and down-conversion F8BT yellow light emitting polymer. The 1D grating structure converts the blue emission from unpolarised to highly polarised; Highly polarised yellow emission has been achieved from the F8BT polymer filled and aligned along the periodic nano-channels of the grating structure as a result of enhanced nano-confinement. Optical polarization measurements show that our device demonstrates a polarization degree of up to 43% for the smallest nano-channel width. Furthermore, the hybrid device with such a grating structure allows us to achieve an optimum relative orientation between the dipoles in the donor (i.e., InGaN/GaN MQWs) and the diploes in the acceptor (i.e., the F8BT), maximizing the efficiency of non-radiative energy transfer (NRET) between the donor and the acceptor. Time-resolved micro photoluminescence measurements show a 2.5 times enhancement in the NRET efficiency, giving a maximal NRET efficiency of 90%. It is worth highlighting that the approach developed paves the way for the fabrication of highly polarized white light emitters

Mesoscale engineering of photonic glass for tunable luminescence

The control of optical behavior of active materials through manipulation of microstructure has led to the development of high-performance photonic devices with enhanced integration density, improved quantum efficiencies and controllable colour output. However, the achievement of robust light-harvesting materials with tunable, broadband and flatten emission remains a long-standing goal, owing to the limited inhomogeneous broadening in ordinary hosts. Here, we describe an effective strategy for management of photon emission by manipulation of mesoscale heterogeneities in optically active materials. Importantly, this unique approach enables control of dopant-dopant and dopant-host interactions at the extended mesoscale. This allows generating intriguing optical phenomena such as high activation ratio of dopant (close to 100 %), dramatically inhomogeneous broadening (up to 480 nm), notable emission enhancement, and moreover, simultaneously extending emission bandwidth and flattening spectral shape in glass and fiber. Our results highlight that the findings connect the understanding and manipulation at the mesoscale realm to functional behavior at the macroscale, and the approach to managing the dopants based on mesoscale engineering may provide new opportunity for construction of robust fiber light source.National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant IDs: 11474102, 51202180), the Chinese Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant ID: NCET-13-0221), Guangdong Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar (Grant ID: S2013050014549), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University, Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry, World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, JapanThis is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Nature Publishing Group

Monolithically integrated white light LEDs on (11-22) semi-polar GaN templates

Carrier transport issues in a (11–22) semi-polar GaN based white light emitting diode (consisting of yellow and blue emissions) have been investigated by detailed simulations, demonstrating that the growth order of yellow and blue InGaN quantum wells plays a critically important role in achieving white emission. The growth order needs to be yellow InGaN quantum wells first and then a blue InGaN quantum well after the growth of n-type GaN. The fundamental reason is due to the poor hole concentration distribution across the whole InGaN quantum well region. In order to effectively capture holes in both the yellow InGaN quantum wells and the blue InGaN quantum well, a thin GaN spacer has been introduced prior to the blue InGaN quantum well. The detailed simulations of the band diagram and the hole concentration distribution across the yellow and the blue quantum wells have been conducted, showing that the thin GaN spacer can effectively balance the hole concentration between the yellow and the blue InGaN quantum wells, eventually determining their relative intensity between the yellow and the blue emissions. Based on this simulation, we have demonstrated a monolithically multi-colour LED grown on our high quality semi-polar (11–22) GaN templates

Photocurrent enhancement in hybrid nanocrystal quantum-dot p-i-n photovoltaic devices

We fabricate a hybrid nanocrystal quantum-dot patterned p-i-n structure that utilizes nonradiative energy transfer from highly absorbing colloidal nanocrystal quantum dots to a patterned semiconductor slab to demonstrate a sixfold increase of the photocurrent conversion efficiency compared to the bare p-i-n semiconductor device.<br/

Nonradiative exciton energy transfer in hybrid organic-inorganic heterostructures

Nonradiative energy transfer from a GaAs quantum well to a thin overlayer of an infrared organic semiconductor dye is unambiguously demonstrated. The dynamics of exciton transfer are studied in the time domain by using pump-probe spectroscopy at the donor site and fluorescence spectroscopy at the acceptor site. The effect is observed as simultaneous increase in the population decay rate at the donor and of the rise time of optical emission at the acceptor sites. The hybrid configuration under investigation provides an alternative nonradiative, noncontact pumping route to electrical carrier injection that overcomes the losses imposed by the associated low carrier mobility of organic emitters

Efficient light harvesting in hybrid CdTe nanocrystal/bulk GaAs p-i-n photovoltaic devices

A hybrid colloidal CdTe nanocrystal/bulk GaAs p-i-n heterostructure is demonstrated to have potential for highly efficient light harvesting photovoltaic devices. An array of rectangular channels is fabricated on the surface of the GaAs heterostructure penetrating through its active layer and subsequently filled with water soluble CdTe nanocrystals emitting in the near infrared. Photogenerated carriers in the highly absorbing colloidal nanocrystals are efficiently transferred by means of nonradiative energy transfer to the patterned heterostructure possessing high carrier mobility and converted to electrical current. A threefold enhancement of both photocurrent and monochromatic power conversion efficiency has been achieved.<br/

Enhanced color-conversion efficiency between colloidal quantum dot-phosphors and nitride LEDs by using nano-patterned p-GaN

We have demonstrated that color-conversion efficiency can be enhanced through the use of non-radiative energy transfer between CdSe/ZnS core/shell colloidal quantum dots(QDs) and nitride multi-quantum well(MQW) in light emitting diodes(LEDs) having nano-patterned p-GaN. The nitride LEDs having nano-patterned p-GaN were fabricated by selective deep etching of p-GaN by using self-assembled ITO nano-dots as a etch mask. For comparison, we also fabricated the nitride LEDs having groove-etched p-GaN as well as the LEDs having a normal p-GaN layer. The results show that the LEDs having nano-patterned p-GaN showed the higher color conversion efficiency of 15.5 % and the improved effective internal quantum efficiency of 71 %. The enhanced efficiency can be attributed to sufficient close QD-MQW separation due to deep etching of p-GaN by using nano-patterning, which resulted in faster energy transfer rate of 2.47 ns-1 for non-radiative QD-MQW energy-transfer.close