Exciton diffusion in bifluorene single crystals studied by light induced transient grating technique

Exciton diffusion is considered to be of prime importance for controlling the recombination zone in organic light emitting devices. This is particularly relevant for organic lasers based on single crystals, where undesirable exciton-exciton annihilation at high concentrations is inevitable. Here, exciton diffusion is studied in bifluorene single crystals specifically designed for organic laser applications, therefore featuring exceptionally low threshold of light amplification. The non-destructive light induced transient grating (LITG) technique capable of simultaneously evaluating the exciton lifetime and diffusion coefficient along different directions of the crystal was employed for this study. Highly anisotropic singlet exciton diffusion with the diffusion coefficient varying from <0.05 up to 0.96 cm²/s (in a perpendicular direction) and the corresponding diffusion lengths changing from <60 up to 300 nm, respectively, was revealed in ethylene-bridged bifluorene crystals. The LITG results on the directionality of exciton diffusion are anticipated to be essential for devising single crystal based organic lasers.