Photophysics of Rhodamine 6G Laser Dye in Ordered Surfactant (C12TMA)/Clay (Laponite) Hybrid Films

With the aim of designing highly luminescent hybrid materials in ordered solid host systems, surfactant molecules are incorporated into the interlayer space of Laponite clay sheets which are parallel stacked in supported films. The posterior inclusion of the photoactive dye rhodamine 6G in low concentrations induces a macroscopic arrangement of fluorescent molecules in a nanostructure organophilic environment with an anisotropic photoresponse to the linearly polarized light.