Low-Threshold Non-Doped Deep Blue Lasing from Monodisperse Truxene-Cored Conjugated Starbursts with High Photostability

Herein, the photophysical, morphological, optical gain characteristics of a set of trigonal monodisperse starburst conjugated macromolecules (Tr1-Tr4) have been systematically investigated in order to elucidate the influence of the molecular structures on their optoelectronic performance. With increasing the oligofluorene arm length, absorption spectra were red-shifted progressively, whereas an increase in photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) and optical gain coefficients, and a corresponding reduction in amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) thresholds and loss coefficients were observed for Tr1-Tr3 except for Tr4. The results indicate that the effective conjugation length become saturated for Tr3 in this system. Impressively, the resulting molecules manifested very low ASE thresholds (4.4–11.6 μJ cm⁻²) with high photostability, as well as high thermal stability. One dimensional distributed feedback (DFB) lasers exhibited a minimum lasing threshold of 10.38 nJ pulse⁻¹ (0.86 kW cm⁻², 4.325 μJ cm⁻²) for Tr3. It should be emphasized that the ASE threshold of Tr1-Tr4 was nearly unchanged from room temperature to 200 °C. The results suggest that this kind of truxene-cored conjugated starbursts with high photostability and low lasing thresholds are rather promising gain media for organic semiconductor lasers.