Utilizing surface plasmon polariton mediated energy transfer for tunable double-emitting organic light-emitting devices

In typical organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), a significant portion of internally generated radiation is trapped into the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes, in general not accessible for external use. By thinning the metal electrode, the SPP modes can be coupled to the outside surface of the device. As such, one can recycle a portion of SPPs by capping the thinned metal electrode with an appropriate absorbing/re-emission medium, inducing SPP-mediated energy transfer and re-emission. Such an approach may be used for implementing double-emitting OLEDs with different emission colors on two sides and with a broad color tuning capability. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.