Organic infrared optical materials and devices based on an organic rare earth complex

This paper describes our recent attempts to develop organic infrared (IR) optical materials and devices based on an organic rare earth complex, erbium (111) tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (ErQ). We examined the IR photoluminescence (PL) properties for samples of the following three forms of ErQ; vacuum-deposited thin-films, doped spin-coated IR polymer thin-films, and doped polymer microparticles. We observed that the 1.5 mum PL intensity of the three samples depended strongly on the excitation wavelength due to the efficient energy transfer from the organic ligand to the central Er3+. We considered the PL properties with a view to the potential use of ErQ in optically active devices for photonic communication. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.