Light extraction via leaky modes in organic light emitting devices

Display and illumination technology require light sources with angular independent emission behaviour. Conversely, a strongly angular dependent spectral emission can be desirable for other applications in information technology or spectroscopy. In order to elucidate the potential of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) for the latter fields, we performed experimental and numerical studies of the angular dependent emission characteristics of cavity like OLEDs. The light generated in the organic multilayer structure and guided in leaky modes was coupled out by a prism. Here, a semitransparent gold anode, acting as a hole injection layer, was used to enhance the coupling of leaky modes guided inside the OLED to external modes (Kretschmann configuration). The observed light emission was strongly angle dependent, with the spectral emission peak of the device shifting from a wavelength of 680 nm to 500 nm as the angle is varied between 20° and 70° with respect to the normal of the substrate plane. Also, the emitted light shows a high degree of polarization. The observed behaviour can be predicted quantitatively by simulations, which are based on the transfer matrix formalism.