Fluorescence properties of dye-doped elastomers with imprinted grating structures

Abstract

An innovative approach to increase fluorescence intensity by using elastomeric gratings without metal coatings is presented. Experiments reveal up to 103% enhancement for horizontally polarized light using the doped elastomeric grating alone. Moreover, further experiments reveal that fluorescence enhancement is affected not only by the presence of grating structures, but also by polarization state and concentration of Rhodamine 6G within the substrate. Lastly, extension experiments show consistent decrease in fluorescence intensity with increasing applied strain.