Related papers: Fundamental limit of light trapping in grating str…
Nano-scaled dielectric and metallic structures are popular light tapping structures in thin-film solar cells. However, a large parasitic absorption in those structures is unavoidable. Most schemes based on such structures also involve the…
A 2-D photonic crystal was integrated experimentally into a thin-film crystalline-silicon solar cell of 1-{\mu}m thickness, after numerical optimization maximizing light absorption in the active material. The photonic crystal boosted the…
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…
We propose a light-trapping structure offering a significant enhancement of photovoltaic absorption in transparent organic solar cells operating at infrared while the visible light transmission keeps sufficiently high. The main mechanism of…
Ultralong trapping of light has been observed in an optically dense three-level solid medium interacting with a pair of counterpropagating coupling fields. Unlike the light trapping based on standing-wave gratings excited by the same…
Ultrathin solar cells reduce material usage and allow the use of lower-quality materials thanks to their one order of magnitude smaller thickness than their conventional counterparts. However, efficient photonic light-trapping is required…
It has been seen recently that when probing a nanoscale object to determine, for example, size or position via light scattering, significant advantage in measurement precision can be gained from exploiting phase singularities in a…
The optical absorption of nanoscale thickness semiconductor films on top of light-trapping structures based on optical interference effects combined with spectrum-splitting structures is theoretically investigated. Nearly perfect absorption…
The design and development of new photonic devices for technological applications requires a deep understanding of the effect of structural properties on the resulting band gap size and its position. Here, we perform a theoretical study of…
We consider light absorption in a germanium grating placed on top of photonic-crystalline substrate. Such a system supports an optical Tamm state decoupled from the continuous spectrum with its frequency within the photonic band gap. We…
The improvement of light absorption in Si/BeSe$_{0.41}$Te$_{0.59}$ heterostructures for solar cell applications is studied theoretically. First, using simple approaches we found that light absorption could be improved in a single…
Two-dimensional (2D) diffraction gratings offer a polarization-independent coupling solution between the planar photonic chips and optical fibers, with advantages including placement flexibility, ease of fabrication, and tolerance to…
Confining electromagnetic energy is crucial to enhance light-matter interactions, with important implications for science and technology. Here, we discuss the opportunities offered by trapping and confining light in open structures, based…
It is currently possible to fabricate crystalline silicon solar cells with the absorber thickness ranging from a few hundreds of micrometers (conventional wafer-based cells) to devices as thin as $1\,\mu\mathrm{m}$. In this work, we use a…
Diffraction gratings integrated into an atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) setup offer a compact and efficient route toward atom cooling and trapping, thus preparing magneto-optical traps (MOT) for insertion into future scalable quantum…
The increase of cell efficiency resulting from using a diffraction grating as a back reflector is investigated. An enhancement coefficient is introduced as a figure of merit that accounts for the ability of the rear grating to increase the…
Silicon photodetectors operating at near-infrared wavelengths with high-speed and high sensitivity are becoming critical for emerging applications, such as Light Detection and Ranging Systems (LIDAR), quantum communications, and medical…
A film-coupled metamaterial structure is numerically investigated for enhancing the light absorption in an ultrathin photovoltaic layer of crystalline gallium arsenide (GaAs). The top subwavelength concave grating and the bottom metallic…
The maximal concentration limit of solar radiation for photovoltaic applications is assumed to be constant, at Cmax\approx46,000 suns. This limit is easily found via a geometrical application of the 2nd law of thermodynamics to a radiation…
A one-dimensional dielectric grating, based on a simple geometry, is proposed and investigated to enhance light absorption in a monolayer graphene exploiting guided mode resonances. Numerical findings reveal that the optimized configuration…