The spectral response of silicon solar cells has been studied under different conditions of excitation. The photocurrent variations are not linear with incident flux, and the minority-carrier diffusion length increases under solar illumination because of trap saturation. It is thus possible to fabricate efficient solar cells with a lower-quality material.

A careful analysis of I-V curves under illumination makes it possible to characterize the different parameters leading to an increase of the open-circuit voltage Voc of MIS silicon solar cells with respect to classical Schottky barrier solar cells. The separate influence of the effective barrier height and of the quality factor of the diode upon Voc is emphasized. An over-all conversion efficiency over 8% under AM1 illumination is reported for a large-area (2.5 cm2) MIS cell.

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A series of new metal-dithiene complexes absorbing in the near infrared were shown to Q switch the Nd-glass laser. Attempts to shorten the ground-state recovery time by heavy-atom substituents led to the preparation of a platinum complex which causes partial mode locking of the laser. The new Q-switch dyes are extremely stable towards infrared radiation.

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