Organic Interfaces

Many of the most important processes in electronic and spintronic devices built from organic molecules (solar cells, light-emitting diodes, spin valves etc.) are fundamentally controlled by the electronic structure at the organic/electrode interface. We showed recently that this is particularly true for the surprising appearance of magnetism from non-magnetic materials in Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS). The electronic structure at such interfaces differs fundamentally from that of the isolated components, and new states with unusual properties and dramatic changes to the electronic structure appear. 

In LabMontiTM, we use a wide array of standard and cutting-edge photoelectron spectroscopies such as momentum microscopy, ultrafast two-photon photoemission (2PPE) and x-ray spectroscopy in order to probe the ground and excited state interfacial electronic structure and their time evolution on timescales of 10-18 - 10-12s. We combine this with microscopy that can resolve individual atoms and molecules carried out at 5K at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This information is correlated with device performance in order to determine the relevant parameters for device operation and to develop a model of interface formation for organic electronic devices.