Optical investigation of intra and interchain charge dynamics in conducting polymers

Reflectance measurements on tensile-drawn films of polypyrrole (PPy) doped with PF6 are analyzed in terms of intra and interchain contributions to the optical conductivity σ(ω). The intrachain σ(ω) is typical of a disordered Drude metal with σ(ω→0)≈2×103 S/cm, while the interchain σ(ω) is dominated by spectral features of strongly localized conductors, implying the interchain charge dynamics is incoherent.