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SYLC: Symposium Light and Chirality: From Fundamentals to Applications

SYLC 1: Light and Chirality: From Fundamentals to Applications

SYLC 1.2: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 4, 2026, 15:00–15:30, RW 1

Conjugation, chirality and optical activity — •Matthew Fuchter — Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Chemical Research Laboratory, 12 Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TA, United Kingdom

There has been a large growth in interest in the study of chiral conjugated organic materials, partly due to the rich optoelectronic behaviour of such systems and how these properties can enable multiple future technologies. This talk will bring together our work on chiral self-assembled conjugated polymers. Following the discovery that helicenes can induce large chiroptical activity in thin film polyfluorenes, we have extensively studied this fascinating material. We have assigned the giant chiroptical activity (circular dichroism and circularly polarised luminescence) displayed by polyfluorene blends to an intrinsic response of the chromophore, which is formed through assembly of individual polymer chains into a highly twisted architecture. We have subsequently shown that this same material results in a large anomalous chiroptical activity when employed as the emitter in an OLED. Finally, we have recently reported substantial magneto-optical activity (specifically Faraday rotation) when this material is placed in a magnetic field. Thus, it seems self-assembled polyfluorenes provide a useful platform to explore the origins of optical activity and a useful means to control chiroptic and magneto-optic responses in conjugated organic materials.

Keywords: Chiral; Optoelectronic; Organic materials; Conjugated materials; Circularly polarised