Amplified spontaneous emission in polymer films doped with a perylenediimide derivative.

The presence of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) by optical pump in polystyrene films doped with N,N'-di(10-nonadecyl)perylene-3,4:9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (PDI-N) in a range of PDI-N concentrations between 0.25 and 5 wt. % is reported. Gain coefficients up to 10 cm(-1), at a pump intensity of 74 kW/cm2, were obtained. The lowest thresholds (approximately 15 kW/cm2) and largest photostabilities measured at 50% (approximately 50 min, i.e., 30,000 pump pulses) were obtained for concentrations up to 1 wt. %. The observation of an increase in the ASE threshold and a decrease in the photostability for larger concentrations is attributed to the presence of aggregated species.