Interplay of Stimulated Emission and Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer in Electrospun Light-Emitting Fibers

TL;DR

This paper explores how stimulated emission and FRET interact in electrospun fibers, enabling tunable optical properties and simultaneous emission, with potential applications in lighting, displays, and sensors.

Contribution

It demonstrates the combined control of ASE and FRET in electrospun fibers, allowing tunable emission thresholds and simultaneous donor-acceptor stimulated emission.

Findings

Tunable FRET efficiency in fibrous mats.

Tailorable thresholds for stimulated emission.

Simultaneous emission from donor and acceptor.

Abstract

Concomitant amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and F\"orster resonance energy transfer (FRET) are investigated in electrospun light-emitting fibers. Upon dye-doping with a proper FRET couple system, free-standing fibrous mats exhibit tunable FRET efficiency and, more importantly, tailorable threshold conditions for stimulated emission. In addition, effective scattering of light is found in the fibrous material by measuring the transport mean free path of photons by coherent backscattering experiments. The interplay of ASE and FRET leads to high control in designing optical properties from electrospun fibers, including the occurrence of simultaneous stimulated emission from both donor and acceptor components. All tunable-optical properties are highly interesting in view of applying electrospun light-emitting materials in lightening, display, and sensing technologies.