Abstract

Cyanine dyes can be used for formation of composite molecular Langmuir- Blodgett (LB) films with interesting photosensitive properties and prospects of non-linear optical applications¹. For water-soluble cyanine dye molecules the possibility of epitaxial single crystal growth by adsorption of dye molecules onto the surface of oppositely charged lipid monolayers was demonstrated recently². X-ray analysis, electron diffraction and fluorescence microscopy give information about unit cell parameters, average thickness of these composite LB films, and their morphology on a micron scale^2,3 Data about surface morphology and roughness on a submicron scale and details of the molecular packing in these films have not yet been obtained. Here we discuss the results of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quantitative X-ray reflectivity studies of the molecular structures of these composite molecular films.

© 1993 Optical Society of America