Transient Photoconductivity in Thin Films of Ferrocene Carboxylic Acid

Organic thin films have been actively studied since the early 1980s for photonic applications, due to their large, ultrafast nonlinear optical and electro-optic coefficients, as well as their stability and their ability to be molecularly engineered. Many of the most interesting applications depend on charge transport of the delocalized π electrons in the medium, and hence are influenced by the electronic mobility and the presence of optically active traps [1]. The incorporation of metal ions into the organic compounds enhances their optical nonlinearities. Photoconductivity is also directly related to the mobility of photo-excited charge carriers, their lifetimes, and the recombination mechanisms, and has applications such as in optoelectronic switching and optical detection [2].