Related papers: Resonant absorption in multilayer quantum-well and…
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…
Intermediate band solar cells (IBSCs) pursue the increase in efficiency by absorbing below-bandgap energy photons while preserving the output voltage. Experimental IBSCs based on quantum dots have already demonstrated that both…
Thin films are preferred for high photocurrent conversion efficiency, but strong photon absorption at photon energies below the bandgap (near and shortwave infrared) typically requires thicker semiconductor layers. To address this tradeoff,…
Light trapping in sub-wavelength semiconductor nanowires (NWs) offers a promising approach to simultaneously reducing material consumption and enhancing photovoltaic performance. Nevertheless, the absorption efficiency of a NW, defined by…
We calculate the maximal absorption enhancement obtainable by guided mode excitation in a weakly absorbing dielectric slab over wide wavelength ranges. The slab mimics thin film silicon solar cells in the low absorption regime. We consider…
Absorption is usually expected to be detrimental to quantum coherence effects. However, the situation for complex absorption spectra has been little studied yet. We consider the resonance fluorescence of excitons in a semiconductor quantum…
Solar cells employing quantum wells can enhance the light absorption but suffer from the difficulty in photogenerated carrier extraction. Here, we analyzed the spectral response and the photocarrier collection mechanism of p-i-n multiple…
We present a theoretical analysis of intraband optical transitions from the intermediate pseudo-band of confined states to the conduction band in a finite, inhomogeneous stack of self-assembled semiconductor quantum dots. The chain is…
Light trapping for solar cells can reduce production cost and improve energy conversion efficiency. Understanding some of the basic theoretical constraints on light trapping is therefore of fundamental importance. Here, we develop a general…
Quantum dot sensitized solar cells are among the new generations of solar cells that have attracted much attention. Theoretical and simulation studies have predicted high efficiency for these cells so that in the future, these cells could…
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…
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…
We report on the influence of the quantum well thickness on the effective band gap and conversion efficiency of In0.12Ga0.88N/GaN multiple quantum well solar cells. The band-to-band transition can be redshifted from 395 to 474 nm by…
Quantum dot solar cells (QDSC) are widely acknowledged to be one of the best solar energy harvesting devices in the present world. Absorber layer is a core component of a QDSC with a strong influence on its operational efficiency. Hence, we…
In this paper, we present a theoretical study on the absorption efficiency enhancement of a thin film amorphous Silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic cell over a broad spectrum of wavelengths using multiple nanoparticle arrays. The light absorption…
We present a multiscale approach for modeling an intermediate-band solar cell based on a GaAs-GaAlAs quantum dot superlattice of cubic symmetry. Our framework combines high-accuracy theoretical calculations of the superlattice band…
To absorb the photons below the band-gap energy effectively, we proposed a quantum dot (QD) photocell modeled by multi-level system for the quantum yields and photo-to-charge efficiency limits. The theoretical results show the quantum…
The resonant absorption of light by an ensemble of absorbers decreases when the resonance is inhomogeneously broadened, as only a fraction of the ensemble contributes to the absorption at any given optical frequency. Recovering the lost…
Energy states below the bandgap of a semiconductor, such as trap states or charge transfer states in organic donor acceptor blends, can contribute to light absorption. Due to their low number density or ultrasmall absorption cross-section,…
We demonstrate a large light absorptance (80%) in a nanometric layer of quantum dots in rods (QRs) with a thickness of 23 nm. This behavior is explained in terms of the coherent absorption by interference of the light incident at a certain…