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The photostability of rhodamine 6G, rhodamine 610 and pyrromethene 567 in solutions, wet-gel and dried sol-gel host media has been determined. A method for the synthesis of xerogel monoliths has been modified to reduce the preparation time for the doped sol-gel samples, and high optical quality sol-gel samples doped with laser dyes have been prepared. A high efficiency and photostability is observed for xanthene laser dyes in wet and dried sol-gel phases but not for a pyrromethene laser dye.

Fluorine (F) substitution on conjugated polymers in polymer solar cells (PSCs) has a diverse effect on molecular properties and device performance. We present a series of three D-A type conjugated polymers (PBT, PFBT, and PDFBT) based on dithienothiophene and benzothiadiazole units with different numbers of F atoms to explain the influence of F substitution by comparing the molecular interactions of the polymers and the recombination kinetics in PSCs. The preaggregation behavior of PFBT and PDFBT in o-DCB at the UV-vis absorption spectra proves that both polymers have strong intermolecular interactions. Besides, more closely packed structures and change into face-on orientation of fluorinated polymers are observed in polymer:PCBM blends by GIXD which is beneficial for charge transport and, ultimately, for current density in PSCs (4.3, 13.0, and 14.5 mA cm for PBT, PFBT, and PDFBT, respectively). Also, the introduction of F atoms on conjugated backbones affects the recombination kinetics by suppressing bimolecular recombination, thereby improving the fill factor (0.41, 0.68, and 0.69 for PBT, PFBT, and PDFBT, respectively). Consequently, the PCE of PSCs reached 7.3% without any additional treatment (annealing, solvent additive, etc.) in the polymer containing difluorinated BT (PDFBT) that is much higher than nonfluorinated BT (PBT ∼ 1%) and monofluorinated BT (PFBT ∼ 6%).

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Abstract. We developed multimodal multiphoton microspectroscopy using a small-diameter probe with gradient-index lenses and applied it to unstained Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain samples. Our system maintained the image quality and spatial resolution of images obtained using an objective lens of similar numerical aperture. Multicolor images of AD brain samples were obtained simultaneously by integrating two-photon excited fluorescence and second-harmonic generation on a coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microendoscope platform. Measurements of two hippocampal regions, the cornus ammonis-1 and dentate gyrus, revealed more lipids, amyloid fibers, and collagen in the AD samples than in the normal samples. Normal and AD brains were clearly distinguished by a large spectral difference and quantitative analysis of the CH mode using CARS microendoscope spectroscopy. We expect this system to be an important diagnosis tool in AD research. © The Authors.Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.