Optical anisotropy of polythiophene films

Abstract Using stretch aligned polythiophene films, optical anisotropy of absorption, photoluminescence, doping- and photo-induced absorptions has been studied. It was found that the electrochemically prepared polythiophene films exhibit highly optical anisotropy with respect to polymer chain direction. The absorption and photoluminescence dominantly originate from a one-dimensional π − π ★ transition and free intrachain exciton, respectively. The absorptions due to photo- and doping-induced (bi)polarons are confirmed to be also highly anisotropic as well as the π − π ★ transition.