1 micron wavelength photo- and electroluminescence from a conjugated polymer

We report photo- and electroluminescence from an alternating conjugated polymer consisting of fluorene units and low-band gap donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) units. The D-A-D segment includes two electron-donating thiophene rings combined with a thiadiazolo-quinoxaline unit, which is electron withdrawing to its nature. The resulting polymer is conjugated and has a band gap of 1.27 eV. The corresponding electro- and photoluminescence spectra both peak at approximately 1 mum. Light-emitting diodes, based on a single layer of the polymer, demonstrated external quantum efficiencies from 0.03% to 0.05%. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.