Related papers: Ultra-Thin Metal Films for Enhanced Solar Absorpti…
We perform linear and non-linear photon absorption calculations in topological insulator ultra-thin films on a substrate. Due to the unique band structure of the coupled topological surface states, novel features are observed for suitable…
Promising applications in photonics are driven by the ability to fabricate crystal-quality metal thin films of controlled thickness down to a few nanometers. In particular, these materials exhibit a highly nonlinear response to optical…
We apply interferometric picometrology to measure the complex refractive index and dielectric properties of ultra-thin gold films as a continuous function of thickness from 0.2 nm to 10 nm deposited on thermal oxide on silicon. Three…
Because of its low-cost, silicon is the standard material for photovoltaic conversion. Yet, its band-edge absorption spectrum is narrower than the spectrum of the solar radiation, which reduces its conversion efficiency. In this paper, it…
Silver nanoparticles embedded in a dielectric matrix are investigated for their potential as broadband-absorbing optical sensor materials. This contribution focuses on the electrical properties of silver nanoparticles at various…
Minimizing the material usage in thin-film solar cells can reduce manufacturing costs and enable mechanically flexible implementations, but concomitantly diminishes optical absorption. Coherent optical effects can help alleviate this…
Designing objects with predefined optical properties is a task of fundamental importance for nanophotonics, and chirality is a prototypical example of such a property, with applications ranging from photochemistry to nonlinear photonics. A…
We experimentally demonstrate that the addition of partial lattice disorder to a thin-film micro-crystalline silicon photonic crystal results in the controlled spectral broadening of its absorption peaks to form quasi resonances; increasing…
Material absorption is a key limitation in nanophotonic systems; however, its characterization is often obscured by scattering and diffraction loss. Here we show that nanomechanical frequency spectroscopy can be used to characterize the…
Functional materials with high electrical conductivity and optical transmittance are vital for thermally tunable free-space photonic systems. Conventional transparent conductors such as graphene and indium tin oxide are limited by high…
Absorption spectra of Ni$^{2+}$ ions in 22WO$_3$--78TeO$_2$ tungstate-tellurite glass were studied and Ni$^{2+}$ extinction coefficient spectral dependence was derived in the 450 -- 2700 nm wavelength range. Computer modeling of the glass…
Titanium nitride (TiNx) films are ideal for use in superconducting microresonator detectors because: a) the critical temperature varies with composition (0 < Tc < 5 K); b) the normal-state resistivity is large, \rho_n ~ 100 $\mu$Ohm cm,…
Metamaterials and metasurfaces operating in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) offer a promising route towards next-generation photodetectors and devices for solar energy harvesting. While numerous metamaterials and metasurfaces using…
Transmission of light through an optically ultrathin metal film with a thickness comparable to its skin depth is significant. We demonstrate experimentally nearly-zero transmission of light through a film periodically modulated by a…
(Abbreviated) From six spectra of high-z QSOs, we select eleven metal-rich, Z>=Z_solar, and optically-thin to the ionizing radiation, N(HI)<10^17 cm^-2, absorption systems ranging between z=1.5 and z=2.9 and revealing lines of different…
Solar arrays are the primary energy source of the satellite. In this paper, a metamaterial absorber for solar arrays with simultaneous high optical transparency and broadband microwave absorption is presented. By tailoring the reflection…
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…
Metal mixed polymers are a cheap and effective way to produce flexible metals and superconductors. As part of an on-going effort to learn how to tune the properties of these systems with ion implantation, we present a study of the…
We study light absorption by weakly rough metal surfaces with the roughness amplitude and correlation length smaller than the skin depth in metal. We develop a systematic perturbative approach for calculation of the absorptance in such…
We report the optical absorption characteristics and the photocurrent spectra for large-area molecular junctions containing different molecular structures and thicknesses. Through experimental assessment of the optical absorption of…