Fundamental photophysical concepts and key structural factors for the design of BODIPY-based tunable lasers

Abstract

This review aims to highlight the most recent and remarkable advances in our laboratory in designing efficient and long-lasting tunable dye lasers from the visible green region to the far-red-NIR edge. In recent years, we have synthesised, characterised, and applied a set of organic molecules covering this spectral region. The well-known BODIPY dye was selected as the photoactive scaffold owing to its rich and versatile chemistry. This modern dye allows deep and selective functionalization, which in turn modulates its photophysical properties. A deep understanding of the interplay between the molecular structure and photonic performance, as well as the unravelling of the key underlying photophysical mechanisms, is essential for designing photoactive dyes endowed with improved laser performance, outperforming the corresponding commercially available dyes in each spectral region. The design was focused on the chemical modification of the boron-dipyrrin core, as well as on the combination of dissimilar BODIPYs into a single molecular structure. Indeed, these complex and challenging multichromophoric assemblies exemplify a new generation of laser dyes with enhanced photonic performance. Following that, we provide an overview of the main structural and photophysical guidelines governing laser performance.

KEYWORDS:

• BODIPY
• photophysical properties
• dye chemistry
• lasers
• energy transfer
• electron transfer

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by MINECO (PID2020-114755GB-C33) and Gobierno Vasco (IT1639-22). We would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the research groups headed by Prof. M. J. Ortiz and Prof. S. de la Moya (UCM in Madrid), Prof. J. C. López and Prof. A. Gomez (CSIC in Madrid), Prof. I. García Moreno (CSIC in Madrid), and Prof. E. Peña Cabrera (Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico) for their fruitful collaboration in dealing with the dye chemistry of BODIPYs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).