Related papers: Efficient light harvesting and photon sensing via …
Although most prior research on the dew-harvesting technology has focused on nocturnal operations, achieving round-the-clock freshwater harvesting remains crucial. However, daytime dew-harvesting faces two key challenges as compared to its…
Single-photon detection and photon counting play a central role in a large number of quantum communication and computation protocols. While the efficiency of state-of-the-art photo-detectors is well below the desired limits, quantum state…
In numerous applications of energy harvesting via transformation of light into heat the focus recently shifted towards highly absorptive materials featuring nanoplasmons. It is currently established that noble metals-based absorptive…
Atmospheric water harvesting is urgently needed given increasing global water scarcity. Current sorbent-based devices that cycle between water capture and release have low harvesting rates. We envision a radically different multi-material…
We show that in the recent artificial light-harvesting experiment [Angewandte Chemie Intl. Ed. 55, 2759 (2016)] on organic nanocrystals self-assembled from difluoroboron chromophores, the spontaneous emission of an excited pigment should…
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 collective response of matter is ubiquitous and widely exploited, e.g. in plasmonic, optical and electronic devices. Here we trace on an attosecond time scale the birth of collective excitations in a finite system and find distinct new…
Photosynthesis, the process by which energy from sunlight drives cellular metabolism, relies on a unique organization of light-harvesting and reaction center complexes. Recently, the organization of light-harvesting LH2 complexes and…
Plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) hold tremendous promise for catalyzing light-driven chemical reactions. The conventionally assumed detrimental absorption loss from plasmon damping can now be harvested to drive chemical transformations of the…
This work investigates an alternative to thermophotovoltaics for harvesting thermal and optical energy via photon coupling and thermionic energy conversion. In this device, a heat source is radiatively coupled to a thermionic electron…
Cooperative optical effects are enabled and controlled by interactions between molecular dipoles, meaning that their mutual orientation is of paramount importance to, for example, superabsorbing light-harvesting antennas. Here we show how…
Recent progress in nanofabrication has led to tremendous technological developments in nanophotonics, which rely on the interaction of light with nanostructured matter. Nanophotonics has experienced a large surge of interest in recent…
We investigate the role of quantum coherence in the efficiency of excitation transfer in a ring-hub arrangement of interacting two-level systems, mimicking a light-harvesting antenna connected to a reaction center as it is found in natural…
At photoelectrosynthetic interfaces, an electrochemical reaction is driven by excited charge-carriers from a semiconducting photoabsorber. Structure and composition of this interface determine both the electronic and electrochemical…
Phenomena involving electron transfer are ubiquitous in nature, photosynthesis and enzymes or protein activity being prominent examples. Their deep understanding thus represents a mandatory scientific goal. Moreover, controlling the…
Efficient conversion of photons to electrical energy has a wide variety of applications including imaging, energy harvesting, and infrared detection. The coupling of electromagnetic radiation to free electron oscillations at a metal…
Photosynthesis is nature's route to convert intermittent solar irradiation into storable energy, while its use for an industrial energy supply is impaired by low efficiency. Artificial photosynthesis provides a promising alternative for…
The theoretical and experimental study of energy transfer in photosynthesis has revealed an interesting transport regime, which lies at the borderline between classical transport dynamics and quantum-mechanical interference effects.…
We analyze a theoretical model for energy and electron transfer in an artificial photosynthetic system. The photosystem consists of a molecular triad (i.e., with a donor, a photosensitive unit, and an acceptor) coupled to four accessory…
Indoor light is known to be a new energy source to power uW low consumption wireless sensor networks (WSNs). For wireless electronic devices that consume tens of mW, it is still challenging to harvest this amount of power in a low light…