2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Waveguiding molecular fiber self-assembled from organic dye molecules
| Project/Area Number |
18550135
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Functional materials chemistry
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| Research Institution | National Institute for Materials Science |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKAZAWA Ken National Institute for Materials Science, Quantum Dot Research Center, Senior Researcher (10354317)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2006 – 2007
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| Keywords | Organic dye / Self-assembly / Molecular fiber / Optical waveguide |
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| Research Abstract |
Guiding and manipulating light on nano- to micrometer scales are key technologies to realize miniaturized photonic circuits, which have promising applications in high-speed microprocessors and telecommunication devices. Therefore, active dielectric waveguides on such scales constructed from semiconductors and organic materials have been intensively studied. Photonic crystals and plasmon waveguides have also attracted a great deal of attention due to their potential for manipulating light on the nanometer scale.
We found that the organic dye molecule thiacyanine in aqueous solution self-assembles into fiber-shaped aggregates with a length of up to〜250μm that function as the active waveguides. The fibers are highly flexible and can be bent with a radius of curvature down to the sub-micrometer range. The waveguiding efficiencies (optical losses) of the bent fibers were quantitatively investigated by a newly developed laser scanning optical microscopy. It was found that the bending loss of the fibers is significantly low.
We attempted to control the shape of the thiacyanine fiber by controlling the self-assembly process. Chloroform solutions of thiacyanine having long alkyl groups were drop-cast on a glass under highly humid conditions. It was found that well-defined rings with diameters of 5-30 μm were self-assembled after the solution were evaporated. It was found that the rings guided their fluorescence along the rings.
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