title: Dye alignment in luminescent solar concentrators: II. Horizontal alignment for energy harvesting in linear polarizers.
abstract: We describe Linearly Polarized Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LP-LSCs) to replace conventional, purely absorptive, linear polarizers in energy harvesting applications. As a proof of concept, we align 3-(2-Benzothiazolyl)-N,N-diethylumbelliferylamine (Coumarin 6) and 4-dicyanomethyl-6-dimethylaminostiryl-4H-pyran (DCM) dye molecules linearly in the plane of the substrate using a polymerizable liquid crystal host. We show that up to 38% of the photons polarized on the long axis of the dye molecules can be coupled to the edge of the device for an LP-LSC based on Coumarin 6 with an order parameter of 0.52.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Reusswig
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Beyler
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rotschild
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Baldo