Both forms of reconstruction have similar satisfactory long-term functional results. The major advantage of colonic pouch was seen in the immediate postoperative phase.

In this paper, we present a comprehensive simulation-based analysis of the two photonic effects of a Bragg stack - a modified local density of photon states (LDOS) and an enhanced local irradiance - on the upconversion (UC) luminescence and quantum yield of the upconverter β-NaYF₄ doped with 25% Er³⁺. The investigated Bragg stack consists of alternating layers of TiO₂ and Poly(methylmethacrylate), the latter containing upconverter nanoparticles. Using experimentally determined input parameters, the photonic effects are first simulated separately and subsequently coupled in a rate equation model, describing the dynamics of the UC processes within β-NaYF₄:25% Er³⁺. With this integrated simulation model, the Bragg stack design is optimized to maximize either the UC quantum yield (UCQY) or UC luminescence. We find that in an optimized Bragg stack, due to the modified LDOS, the maximum UCQY is enhanced from 14% to 16%, compared to an unstructured layer of upconverter material. Additionally, this maximum UCQY can already be reached at an incident irradiance as low as 100 W/m². With a Bragg stack design that maximizes UC luminescence, enhancement factors of up to 480 of the UC luminescence can be reached.

In upconversion processes, two or more low-energy photons are converted into one higher-energy photon. Besides other applications, upconversion has the potential to decrease sub-band-gap losses in silicon solar cells. Unfortunately, upconverting materials known today show quantum yields, which are too low for this application. In order to improve the upconversion quantum yield, two parameters can be tuned using photonic structures: first, the irradiance can be increased within the structure. This is beneficial, as upconversion is a non-linear process. Second, the rates of the radiative transitions between ionic states within the upconverter material can be altered due to a varied local density of photonic states. In this paper, we present a theoretical model of the impact of a photonic structure on upconversion and test this model in a simulation based analysis of the upconverter material β -NaYF(4):20% Er(3+) within a dielectric waveguide structure. The simulation combines a finite-difference time-domain simulation model that describes the variations of the irradiance and the change of the local density of photonic states within a photonic structure, with a rate equation model of the upconversion processes. We find that averaged over the investigated structure the upconversion luminescence is increased by a factor of 3.3, and the upconversion quantum yield can be improved in average by a factor of 1.8 compared to the case without the structure for an initial irradiance of 200 Wm(-2).

For high band gap solar cells, organic molecule based upconverter materials are promising to reduce transmission losses of photons with energies below the absorption threshold. We investigate the approach of embedding the organic upconverter DPA:PtOEP directly into each second layer of a Bragg stack to achieve an enhancement of upconversion performance. The two major effects that influence the upconversion process within the Bragg stack are simulated based on experimentally determined input parameters. The locally increased irradiance is simulated using the scattering matrix method. The variation of the density of photon states is obtained from calculations of the eigenmodes of the photonic crystal using the plane wave expansion method. A relative irradiance enhancement of 3.23 has been found for a Bragg stack of 31 layers including λ/8-layers on both sides. For suppressing the loss mechanism of direct sensitizer triplet decay via variations of the density of photon states, a different design of the Bragg stack is necessary than for maximum irradiance enhancement. In order to find the optimum design to increase upconversion quantum yield, both simulation results need to be coupled in a rate-equation model. The irradiance enhancement found in our simulation is significantly higher than the one found in the simulation of a grating-waveguide structure, which achieved an increase of upconversion quantum yield by a factor of 1.8. Thus, the Bragg structure is very promising for upconversion quantum yield enhancement

Upconversion of sub-band-gap photons is a promising approach to increase the efficiency of solar cells. In this paper, we review the recent progress in upconverter material development and realization of efficient upconverter silicon solar cell devices. Current published record values for the increase in the short-circuit current density due to upconversion are 13.1 mA/cm2 at a solar concentration of 210 suns determined in a sun simulator measurement. This increase is equivalent to a relative efficiency enhancement of 0.19% for the silicon solar cell. Although this is a considerable enhancement by more than one order of magnitude from values published only a few years ago, further enhancement of the upconversion performance is necessary. To this end, we investigate theoretically the application of resonant cavity and grating photonic structures. Our simulation based analysis considers irradiance enhancement and modified density of photon states due to the photonic structures and their impact on the upconversion dynamics in -NaYF4: 20%Er 3+. It shows that an optimized grating can increase upconversion luminescence by a factor of 3 averaged over the whole structure in comparison to an unstructured reference with the same amount of upconverter material