Silica films doped with cyanine dye J aggregates by sol-gel processing

We present syntheses of thin silica films doped with condensed J aggregates of cyanine dyes. In spite of containing plenty of the J aggregates, these films are transparent, homogeneous in thickness and stable at room temperature. They were characterized by absorption spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy. It was found that the fine crystals of J aggregates are incorporated in SiO₂ framework by brief and simple synthesis procedures in basis on sol-gel processing. The films are expected to be useful as materials for the various applications such as non-linear optical devices, multiple photon recording and photoelectric cell.