NOVEL PHOTOMEMORY EFFECTS IN PHOTOCHROMIC DYE-DOPED CONDUCTING POLYMER AND AMORPHOUS PHOTOCHROMIC DYE LAYER

Photoconduction and photoluminescence of conducting polymers, such as poly(3-octadecylthiophene), doped with a photochromic dye, cis-1,2-bis-(2,4,5-trimethyl-3-thienyl)ethene (CMTE), have been suppressed upon the photoisomerization of the dye from the open form to the closed form, and are recovered by reverse photoisomerization. These reversible memory effects are discussed on the basis of the photoinduced-charge transfers between the dye and polymers. Clear photoisomerization has been obtained in the amorphous CMTE layer, in which the quenching of photoluminescence and the novel photomemory effects have been found.