Since the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) material was found by the Tang research group in 2001, different kinds of AIE materials have subsequently been developed by many research groups. However, their main applications are only in optoelectrical devices, chemosensors, and biological applications.

Recently, researchers from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Huazhong University of Science and Technology revealed a novel channel to achieve optical data storage (ODS). The finding was published in Applied Optics.

In their experiment, using Tetraphenylethene (TPE)-doped, a kind of AIE material, photopolymer matrix, the fluorescence enhancement process was done in two steps. First, they fabricated the liquid photopolymer matrix that did not contain Zn²⁺ and then the photopolymer matrix was solidified using hand-held Uv-light. Next, they recorded binary data points inside the storage medium using two-photon absorption effect and the signal were barely distinguished, which meant bad signal noise ratio (SNR) because they were completely overwhelmed by the background noise.

Following this, in order to improve the signal contrast, they blended different Zn²⁺ weight percentages into the storage medium and fabricated solid film using same method. They found that the Zn²⁺ reacted with TPE dye could increase the TPE-conjugated degree under the effect of femtosecond laser light. Through a series of experiments, they chose 6.2 wt% Zn²⁺ as the best weight percentage and they got pretty good signal contrast. Thus, this medium is suitable for ODS application.

This approach demonstrates that TPE material could be used in ODS and explores the new potential application in dual-beam super-resolution optical storage in the future.

Fluorescence maps with different Zn²⁺ weight percentages. (Image by SIOM)

Article website:
https://www.osapublishing.org/ao/abstract.cfm?uri=ao-59-4-1249

Contact:
Mr. CAO Yong
General Administrative Office
Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, CAS
Email: caoyong@siom.ac.cn