Imaging studies of temperature dependent photodegradation and self-healing in disperse orange 11 dye-doped polymers

Using confocal transmission imaging microscopy, we measure the temperature dependence of photodegradation and self-healing in disperse orange 11 ( DO11) dye-doped ( poly) methyl-methacrylate ( PMMA) and polystyrene ( PS). In both dye-doped polymers, an increase in sample temperature results in a greater photodegradation rate and degree of degradation, while also resulting in a slower recovery rate and larger recovery fraction. These results confirm the temperature dependence predictions of the modified correlated chromophore domain model ( mCCDM) [ B. R. Anderson and M. G. Kuzyk, Phys. Rev. E 89, 032601 ( 2014)]. Additionally, using quantitative fitting of the imaging data for DO11/PMMA, we determine the domain density parameter to be rho = 1.19 (+/-0.25) x 10(-2) and the domain free energy advantage to be lambda = 0.282 +/- 0.015 eV, which are within the uncertainty of the values previously determined using amplified spontaneous emission as the probe method [ S. K. Ramini et al., Polym. Chem. 4, 4948 ( 2013)]. Finally, while we find photodegradation and self-healing of DO11/PS to be qualitatively consistent with the mCCDM, we find that it is quantitatively incompatible with the mCCDM as recovery in DO11/PS is found to behave as a stretched ( or double) exponential as a function of time. Published by AIP Publishing.