(3l) “Soft” Intermolecular Interactions for Engineering Molecular Order In Organic Photonic Materials

Molecular order is known to play a major role in defining bulk material processes specific to photovoltaics, electronics, and electro-optics (i.e., carrier mobility, nonlinear optical processes, exciton dissociation and charge collection, etc.). A grand challenge that unites these fields is to develop a fundamental understanding of how spatially anisotropic intermolecular interactions may be used to influence long-range molecular order. Understanding the behavior of these anisotropic interactions would enable the engineering of ordered materials through rational design of supramolecular interactions.

Organic EO materials for photonic applications are currently of great interest due to superior properties and processing advantages (large area processability, low loss) that promise reductions in the size, weight, and power requirements of economically vital technologies, such as in telecommunications, computing, and sensing applications. By utilizing an effective rational design approach encompassing synthesis, characterization, and theoretical simulations, great steps toward understanding these “soft” intermolecular interactions and producing further enhanced materials can be achieved. A detailed approach toward understanding these spatially anisotropic intermolecular interactions and proposed implementation into next generation photonics, plasmonics, and metamaterials-based device structures will be discussed. These devices represent the future in chip scale integration of electrical and photonic devices when incorporated with organic molecules.