Outcoupling of trapped optical modes in organic light-emitting devices with one-step fabricated periodic corrugation by laser ablation

Introduction of microstructures into an organic light-emitting device (OLED) is being considered as an effective approach to outcouple photons trapped in waveguide (WG) and surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) modes within the devices. However, the attempt has been hampered by the difficulty in applying lithographic patterning technologies on organic materials. Here, we show the end has been simply reached by one-step directly laser ablating the hole-transporting layer of the OLEDs without inducing any optical or electrical deterioration. Three times efficiency enhancement has been experimentally attained from the corrugated OLEDs, which has then been ascribed by numerical simulation to the efficient outcoupling of the SPP and WG modes to radiation.