Strong- vs weak-coupling lasing in polymer-film microcavities

Abstract: Organic semiconductors are particularly attractive for polaritonics due to their large exciton binding energies and oscillator strengths. Among them, the ladder-type conjugated polymer poly(paraphenylene) (MeLPPP) is distinguished by its rigid backbone, narrow exciton linewidth, high photoluminescence quantum yield, and enhanced photostability, which makes it an excellent candidate for organic polariton devices. While polariton lasing has been reported in various organic systems, systematic studies of the transition from polariton lasing to conventional photon lasing within a single, well-controlled material platform remain limited. Understanding this crossover is crucial for distinguishing polariton-specific signatures from conventional lasing. Here, we present planar organic microcavities incorporating MeLPPP as the active medium that supports polariton lasing. By tuning the effective cavity length, we track the transition from strong to weak coupling and identify its impact on the lasing behaviour. Our results reveal a many fold increase in the lasing threshold when moving from polariton to photon lasing, emission energy pulling towards the polymer gain maximum for either regimes, and an important role of vibron mediated exciton relaxation evidenced by the reduction in lasing thresholds near vibron energy resonances with respect to the S10 exciton. These findings provide fundamental insight into light-matter coupling in organics and highlight MeLPPP microcavities as a versatile platform for future applications in low-threshold lasers.