Proceedings Article | 3 January 2005
Proc. SPIE. 5643, Advances in Optical Data Storage Technology
KEYWORDS: Visible radiation, Polymethylmethacrylate, Polarization, Ultraviolet radiation, Luminescence, Platinum, Optoelectronics, Optical storage, Absorption, Oxidation
Four novel photochromic dithienylethenes compounds, 1,2-bis[2-methyl-5(p-fluorophenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclo-pentene (<b>1a</b>), 1,2-bis[2-methyl-5(p-ethoxyphenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclopentene (<b>2a</b>), 1,2-bis[2-methyl-5(p-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclopentene (<b>3a</b>) and 1,2-bis(2-methyl-5-naphthalene-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene (<b>4a</b>) were synthesized. Their optoelectronic properties, such as photochromism in solution as well as in PMMA amorphous, fluorescence and electrochemistry properties were systematically investigated. These dithienylethenes have shown good photochromic behavior both in solution and in PMMA amorphous film. All of them exhibited relatively strong fluorescence. With the increase of their concentration in a THF solution, their fluorescence spectra showed a bathochromic shift. The irreversible anodic oxidation of <b>1a</b>, <b>3a</b> and <b>4a</b> occurred when performing cyclic voltammetry tests. Moreover, dithienylethene <b>1a</b> showed remarkable multi-color electrochromic properties during the anodic polarization. In addition, photo-mode multi-step optical storage using <b>2a</b> and <b>3a</b> as recording medium was performed successfully.