Related papers: Ultra-Thin Metal Films for Enhanced Solar Absorpti…
We have used the two-step growth technique, quench condensing followed by an anneal, to grow ultra thin films of silver on glass substrates. As has been seen with semiconductor substrates this process produces a metastable homogeneous…
We propose a thin, compact, broadband, polarization and angle insensitive metamaterial absorber based on a tungsten reflector, silicon spacer and a top pattern composed of a double square-like ring resonator utilizing nickel(Ni). In such a…
Ideal absorption describes a particular means of optimizing light-matter interactions with a host of potential applications. This work presents new analytic formulas and describes semi-analytical methods for the design of electric or…
It is known that noble metals such as gold, silver and copper are not supercon- 1 ductors, so as magnesium. This is due to the weakness of the electron-phonon interaction 2 which makes them excellent conductors but not superconductors. As…
Dark photons with masses in the 1-100 eV range can be produced in the Sun and subsequently absorbed in terrestrial detectors, offering a promising avenue for probing hidden-sector physics beyond the Standard Model. In this work, we develop…
We report the development of broadband solar absorber coatings based on titanium suboxide composite thin films on aluminium substrates. The films are fabricated via scalable DC magnetron sputtering using a Ti target, followed by…
Enabling perfect light absorption in ultrathin materials promises the development of exotic photonic devices. Here we demonstrate new strategies that can provide capabilities to rationally design ultrathin (thickness <…
Novel low index (n less than 1.3)/high light trapping cladding films consisting of nanoporous alumina (sapphire), as formed by controlled anodization of aluminum, are described. These films are mechanically hard, intrinsically very…
It is theoretically shown that nanometric silver lamellar gratings present very strong visible light absorption inside the grooves, leading to electric field intensities by several orders of magnitude larger than that of the impinging…
This paper introduces the design and comprehensive characterization of a novel three-layer metamaterial absorber, engineered to exploit the unique optical properties of gold, vanadium dioxide, and silicon dioxide. At the core of this…
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…
This work experimentally studies silicon-cored tungsten nanowire selective metamaterial absorber to enhance solar-thermal energy harvesting, simply fabricated by conformally coating a thin tungsten layer onto a commercial silicon nanowire…
Optical interference is used to enhance light-matter interaction and harvest broadband light in ultrathin semiconductor absorber films on specular back-reflectors. However, the high-temperature processing in oxygen atmosphere required for…
An ideal solar thermal absorber has a sharp transition between high and low absorptance at the wavelength where the blackbody emissive power begins to exceed the solar irradiance. However, most real selective absorbers have a fairly broad…
Light-trapping mechanisms with plasmonics are an excellent way to increase the efficiency of photovoltaics. Plasmonic dimer-shaped nanoparticles are effective in light absorption and scatterings, and there is hardly any research on dimer…
We study light diffraction in the periodically modulated ultrathin metal films both analytically and numerically. Without modulation these films are almost transparent. The periodicity results in the anomalous effects, such as suppression…
Silica aerogels are nanoporous materials with exceptional optical and physical properties, making them promising candidates to enhance solar cell efficiency as antireflective coatings. This study synthesized hydrophobic silica aerogel thin…
This study investigates optical and electrical properties of thin melanin films self-organized grown from water solutions of eumelanin extracted from edible plants. The melanin films exhibit the characteristics of a transparent low…
New generation concentrated solar power (CSP) plants require new solar receiver materials with selective optical properties and excellent corrosion resistance against molten salts. MAX phases are promising materials for CSP applications due…
Nanotubes of various kinds have been prepared in the last decade, starting from the discovery of carbon nanotubes. Recently other types of nanotubes including metallic (Au), inorganic (TiO2, HfS2, V7O16, CdSe, MoS2), and polymeric…