The overarching goal of the proposed CAREER effort will be to understand the correlations between excitons, magnetic properties, spin exchange mechanisms and molecular stacking in discotic crystalline molecular thin films with long range order. This project will employ magneto-optical spectroscopy techniques to gain insight into the fundamental links between the electronic and spin states, long range order and the role of grain boundaries in thin films of organic semiconductors. Focus areas include: (i) Micro-photoluminescence and linear dichroism microscopy studies of electronic states at the grain boundaries of polycrystalline phthalocyanine (Pc) films (ii) Microscopy study of photo excited carriers transport across a single grain boundary (iii) Magnetic Circular Dichroism (MCD) and Faraday rotation studies of correlations between structural and magnetic ordering in Mn-, Fe-, and Co-Pc crystalline films. Educational and outreach activities include development of new research-related courses, a collaboration with Vermont EPSCOR to establish a "Women in Physical Sciences" (WIPS) mentorship program and a "Physics Photography" program for high school students and teachers.
The search for organic electronics as alternatives to traditional silicon-based technologies has advanced tremendously over the past two decades. While some of the greatest achievements in this field already available to consumers (i. e. OLEDs) remarkable recent advances in the area of small-molecules organic thin films captured the attention of a significantly broader researcher base with interests ranging from organic thin film transistors to magnetic devices and even fast light detection. This project focuses on understanding complex systems of organic molecules that self-assemble into structures with macroscopic order and anisotropic properties similar to liquid crystals. The proposed experiments will correlate the electronic and magnetic properties of crystalline films of small dye molecules to molecular ordering using polarized light spectroscopy imaging in high magnetic fields. Educational and outreach activities include development of new research-related courses, a collaboration with Vermont EPSCOR to establish a "Women in Physical Sciences" (WIPS) mentorship program and a "Physics Photography" program for high school students and teachers.
