Curvature effects on optical emission of flexible organic light-emitting diodes

We present an analytical model for the optical emission of a two-dimensional source in a flexible organic light-emitting diode formation with arbitrary curvature. The formulation rigorously produces closed-form analytical expressions which clearly relate the emission pattern and the device configuration, in particular, the radius of curvature. We investigate the optical properties of a prototype model through the resultant expressions, revealing that the bending induces a dramatic enhancement of emission to large angles, allowing for large viewing angle and reduced total internal reflection losses. These effects, shown to arise from geometrical considerations, demonstrate the unique advantages which curved flexible devices offer with respect to their planar counterparts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a rigorous analytical investigation of the optical characteristics of these novel devices is conducted. The resultant analytical formulae provide a robust basis for future analysis, as well as a set of design rules for efficient device engineering.