Mechanically Reconfigurable Organic Photonic Integrated Circuits Made from Two Electronically Different Flexible Microcrystals

Abstract

Fabrication of microscale organic photonic integrated circuits (μ‐OPIC) from two electronically different flexible crystals via a mechanophotonics approach is demonstrated here. The experiments focus on the mechanical micromanipulation of orange‐emitting (E)‐1‐(4‐(dimethylamino)‐phenyl)iminomethyl‐2‐hydroxyl‐naphthalene (DPIN) and green‐emitting (E)‐1‐(4‐bromo)iminomethyl‐2‐hydroxyl‐naphthalene (BPIN) crystals with atomic force cantilever tip. The flexibility of these crystals originate from molecular H‐bonding, CH∙∙∙π, and π···π stacking interactions. These mechanically compliant crystals form exceedingly bent and photonically relevant reconfigurable geometries during micromanipulation, including three μ‐OPICs. Remarkably, these μ‐OPICs operate through passive‐, active‐waveguiding and energy transfer mechanisms. Depending upon the crystal's electronic nature (either BPIN or DPIN) receiving the optical signal input, the circuit executes mechanism‐selective and direction‐specific optical outputs. The presented proof‐of‐principle concepts can be used to fabricate complex photonic circuits with diverse, flexible crystals performing multiple optical functions.