Morphology-Directed Light Emission from Fluorescent Janus Colloids for Programmable Chemical-To-Optical Signal Transduction

Abstract

Materials capable of dynamically and reversibly altering their emission are relevant for numerous optical applications. Here, the anisotropic morphology-directed light emission from fluorescent Janus emulsion droplets, an intrinsically chemo-responsive material platform, is investigated. Informed by experimental observations of morphology-dependent optical confinement of internally emitted light within the higher refractive index phases, ray-tracing is used to predict and fine-tune the droplets’ optical properties and their ability to concentrate light. Theoretical prediction and closely matching experimental results show that the collection of incident light and the confinement of emitted l..