Circularly polarised CP-OLED from Helicenes may enable simpler 3D OLED displays

Researchers from the Imperial College in London are researching the usage of Helicenes as emitter materials in OLED panels. Helicene based PLED emit circularly polarized light (they call these CP-OLEDs) and these may be useful for 3D OLEDs and other optical and photonics applications.

Helicenes are thermally-stable polycyclic aromatics with helically-shaped molecules. These molecules has unique structural, spectral, and optical features. The researchers found that when these molecules are used as emitter materials in OLED panels, they emit a light that is circularly polarized (not 100% though).

The researchers say that there are several applications for these so-called CP-OLEDs. It may be used as the backlight of an LCD (which needs polarized light) - but I don't think this is a likely scenario because it will be expensive for an LCD, and if you already know how to produce the OLED itself, it's better to use it for a real OLED displays. Other applications include 3D displays (which rely on light polarization for the stereoscopic effect), CP-light detectors and emitters and optical communication devices.

Posted: May 12,2013 by Ron Mertens