Optoelectronic Components & Materials Group

The above photograph depicts a crystalline organic semiconductor film viewed through a microscope using cross polarizers and a Nomarski filter. Color variation is created by changes in index of refraction caused by different orientations of the micron sized crystallites comprising the film. Crystalline organic films have desirable optical and charge transport properties that may be well suited for solar cell, photodetector, lighting, and display applications. This particular example was grown from a liquid melt and used in a solar cell.

 

The photograph was taken by Princeton Chemical Engineering graduate student Richard Lunt and is entitled "Semiconducting Feathers". It won Princeton University's People's Choice Award in the 2009 Art of Science competition.

 

You can read about the contest and view more photographs here.