Related papers: Absorbing photonic crystals for thin film photovol…
Broadband absorption in the visible spectrum is essential in optoelectronic applications that involve power conversion such as photovoltaics and photocatalysis. Most ultrathin broadband absorbers use parasitic plasmonic structures that…
Thin films are preferred for high photocurrent conversion efficiency, but strong photon absorption at photon energies below the bandgap (near and shortwave infrared) typically requires thicker semiconductor layers. To address this tradeoff,…
Coating and reflecting thin films for energy harvesting purposes are interesting topics in both theoretical and experimental research. The thin film could help to enhance the absorption of the system via its specific optical properties…
In this paper, we present a theoretical study on the absorption efficiency enhancement of a thin film amorphous Silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic cell over a broad spectrum of wavelengths using multiple nanoparticle arrays. The light absorption…
Topological insulator films are promising materials for optoelectronics due to a strong optical absorption and a thickness dependent band gap of the topological surface states. They are superior candidates for photodetector applications in…
The enhancement of Er$^{3+}$-based up-conversion for photovoltaics in multilayer porous silicon photonic structures is considered theoretically and experimentally. Transfer matrix simulations are used to assess the increased photonic…
We investigate the angular behavior of the upper bound of absorption provided by the guided modes in thin film solar cells. We show that the 4n^2 limit can be potentially exceeded in a wide angular and wavelength range using two-dimensional…
Random surface texturing of an optically-thick film to increase the path length of scattered light rays, first proposed nearly thirty years ago, has thus far remained the most effective approach for photon absorption over the widest set of…
Slow-light enhanced optical detection in liquid-infiltrated photonic crystals is theoretically studied. Using a scattering-matrix approach and the Wigner-Smith delay time concept, we show that optical absorbance benefits both from…
We propose a back-reflecting scheme in order to enhance the maximum achievable current in one micron thick crystalline silicon solar cells. We perform 3-dimensional numerical investigations of the scattering properties of metallic…
We calculate the maximal absorption enhancement obtainable by guided mode excitation in a weakly absorbing dielectric slab over wide wavelength ranges. The slab mimics thin film silicon solar cells in the low absorption regime. We consider…
We theoretically and experimentally investigate the optical absorption properties of heterostructures composed of graphene films and truncated photonic crystals (PCs) in the visible range. The experimental results show that the absorption…
Light trapping photonic crystal (PhC) patterns on the surface of Si solar cells provides a novel opportunity to approach the theoretical efficiency limit of 32.3%, for light-to-electrical power conversion with a single junction cell. This…
Photonic band structure of metal-dielectric and semiconductor-dielectric layered structures are studied in the presence of a strong absorption. It is shown that absorption can enlarge some gaps by as much as 50%.
In this paper, a photonic crystal containing graphene and metamaterial layers is investigated. The absorption spectrum of the structure in the terahertz range is obtained using the transfer matrix method. The results show that by adding a…
We present state-of-the-art first-principle calculations of the electronic and optical properties of silicon allotropes with interesting characteristics for applications in thin-film solar cells. These new phases consist of distorted sp$^3$…
Slow-light enhanced absorption in liquid-infiltrated photonic crystals has recently been proposed as a route to compensate for the reduced optical path in typical lab-on-a-chip systems for bio-chemical sensing applications. A simple…
A finite element-based modal formulation of diffraction of a plane wave by an absorbing photonic crystal slab of arbitrary geometry is developed for photovoltaic applications. The semi-analytic approach allows efficient and accurate…
We propose an efficient plasmonic structure consisting of metal strips and thin-film silicon for solar energy absorption. We numerically demonstrate the absorption enhancement in symmetrical structure based on the mode coupling between the…
Synthetic perovskites with photovoltaic properties open a new era in solar photovoltaics. Due to high optical absorption perovskite-based thin-film solar cells are usually considered as fully absorbing solar radiation on condition of ideal…