Related papers: Partially-disordered photonic-crystal thin films f…
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…
The effects resulting from the introduction of a controlled perturbation in a single pattern membrane on its absorption are first studied and then analyzed on the basis of band folding considerations. The interest of this approach for…
Photonic crystals are extremely sensitive to structural disorder even to the point of completely losing their functionalities. While on one side this can be detrimental for applications in traditional optical devices, on the other side, it…
The positive effects of various perturbations introduced in a bidimensional photonic-crystal patterned membrane on its integrated absorption are investigated numerically and theoretically. Two phenomena responsible for the enhanced…
The absorption of thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers can be efficiently enhanced through a controlled periodic patterning. Light is trapped through coupling with photonic Bloch modes of the periodic structures, which act as an…
The surface of thin-film solar cells can be tailored with photonic nanostructures to allow light trapping in the absorbing medium. This in turn increases the optical thickness of the film and thus enhances their absorption. Such a coherent…
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…
Exotic manipulation of the flow of photons in nanoengineered semiconductor materials with an aperiodic distribution of nanostructures plays a key role in efficiency-enhanced and industrially viable broadband photonic technologies. Through a…
We report on very high enhancement of thin layer's absorption through band-engineering of a photonic crystal structure. We realized amorphous silicon (aSi) photonic crystals, where slow light modes improve absorption efficiency. We show…
Photonic crystals are characterized by a spatial modulation of the dielectric constant on the length scale of the wavelength of light giving rise to energy ranges where light cannot propagate through the crystal - the photonic band gap.…
Elaborating reliable and versatile strategies for efficient light coupling between free space and thin films is of crucial importance for new technologies in energy efficiency. Nanostructured materials have opened unprecedented…
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…
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…
Topological insulators are materials that conduct on the surface and insulate in their interior due to non-trivial topological order. The edge states on the interface between topological (non-trivial) and conventional (trivial) insulators…
We optimize multilayered anti-reflective coatings for photovoltaic devices, using modern evolutionary algorithms. We apply a rigorous methodology to show that a given structure, which is particularly regular, emerge spontaneously in a very…
Non-invasive optical manipulation of particles has emerged as a powerful and versatile tool for biological study and nanotechnology. In particular, trapping and rotation of cells, cell nuclei and sub-micron particles enables unique…
Since thin-film silicon solar cells have limited optical absorption, we explore the effect of a nanostructured back reflector to recycle the unabsorbed light. As a back reflector we investigate a 3D photonic band gap crystal made from…
The optical properties of photonic structures made with more than two materials are very interesting for optical filtering and lighting applications. Herein, we compared the transmission properties of one-dimensional photonic crystals made…
The ability to selectively redirect specific wavelengths of light has attracted a lot attention for photonic crystal materials. Presently, there is a wealth of research relating to the fabrication and application of photonic crystal…
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…