Local order in amorphous organic molecular thin films

Thin films of many molecular materials are considered `amorphousʹ because they possess no detectable long-range order. However, we show that the fluorescence spectrum of polar molecules may shift due to the formation of ordered polar domains within an otherwise amorphous film. A model is derived to explain this shift and the associated quenching of luminescence as domains are formed. We demonstrate that the inclusion of dipole–dipole intermolecular correlations has a significant effect on calculations of the electronic properties of organic amorphous thin films.