Accurate Determination of the Uniaxial Complex Refractive Index and the Optical Band Gap of Polymer Thin Films to Correlate Their Absorption Strength and Onset of Absorption

The advanced development of optoelectronic devices requires a methodical knowledge of the fundamental material properties of the key active components. Systematic investigations and correlations of such basic optical properties can lead to new insights for the design of more potent materials. In this perspective, we provide a systematic overview of the uniaxial anisotropic complex refractive indices and the absorption coefficients obtained by ellipsometry as well as the optical band gap energies derived from Tauc plots of six selected solution-processed polymer thin films. While the optical band gap energies are intentionally distributed over the visible spectral range, we found that the absorption strength of all polymer samples are grouped in a random distribution within a rather uniform range of values. A rainbow of polymers: An overview is given of the basic optical and dielectric properties of six selected polymers that have been processed into thin films. Their optical band gap energies are distributed over the entire visible spectral range. Is there a correlation between absorption onset and strength? image