Low-Threshold Organic Lasers Based on Single-Crystalline Microribbons of Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens

Solid-state lasers (SSLs) play an
important role in developing
optoelectronic devices, optical communication, and modern medicine
fields. As compared with inorganic SSLs, the electrically pumped organic
SSLs (OSSLs) still remain unrealized because of the high lasing threshold
and low carrier mobility. Herein, we first demonstrate the laser action
at ∼520 nm based on the self-assembled single-crystalline organic
microribbons of the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecules of
1,4-bis­((E)-4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)­styryl)-2,5-dimethoxybenzene
(TPDSB). Moreover, these as-prepared organic microribbons exhibit
an effective optical waveguide with a low optical loss of 0.012 dB
μm–1, indicating good light confinement for
laser resonator feedback. Impressively, the multiple mode and the
single mode lasing are both achieved from individual organic microribbons,
whose lasing threshold is as low as 653 nJ cm–2.
These “bottom-up” synthesized organic microribbons based
on AIE-active molecules offer a new strategy for the realization of
the ultralow threshold OSSLs, which would eventually contribute to
the realization of electrically pumped OSSLs.