Enhanced optical absorption for photovoltaics via excitation of waveguide and plasmon-polariton modes

We study theoretically the mechanisms by which optical absorption is enhanced in an optical nanostructure consisting of a slab waveguide, made of a-Si:H, sandwiched between a periodic array of metallic nanowires and a substrate, both made of Au. We demonstrate that for the TM polarization the optica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2007-10, Vol.32 (19), p.2825-2827
Main Authors: PANOIU, Nicolae C, OSGOOD, Richard M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Circuit properties
Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Integrated optics. Optical fibers and wave guides
Nonlinear optical crystals
Nonlinear optics
Optical and optoelectronic circuits
Optical materials
Optical parametric oscillators and amplifiers
Optics
Physics
Ultrafast processes
optical pulse generation and pulse compression
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Summary:We study theoretically the mechanisms by which optical absorption is enhanced in an optical nanostructure consisting of a slab waveguide, made of a-Si:H, sandwiched between a periodic array of metallic nanowires and a substrate, both made of Au. We demonstrate that for the TM polarization the optical absorption in the slab waveguide can be enhanced by almost an order of magnitude by the excitation of plasmon modes, whereas for both the TM and TE polarizations the grating-induced excitation of slab waveguide modes leads to more than twofold enhancement of the optical absorption.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.32.002825