In P3HT:PCBM based organic solar cells we propose and demonstrate numerically plasmonic backcontact grating architectures for strong optical absorption enhanced in both transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric polarizations. Even when the active material is partially replaced by the metallic grating (without increasing the active layer film thickness), we show computationally that the light absorption in thin-film P3HT:PCBM is increased by a maximum factor of ~21% considering both polarizations under AM1.5G solar radiation and over a half-maximum incidence angle of 45° (where the enhancement drops to its half) compared to the same cell without a grating. This backcontact grating outperforms the typical plasmonic grating placed in PEDOT:PSS layer. ©2011 Optical Society of America

We propose and demonstrate a nanocomposite localized surface plasmon resonator embedded into an artificial three-dimensional construction. Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots are assembled between layers of metal nanoparticles to create a highly strong plasmon-exciton interaction in the plasmonic cavity. In such a multilayered plasmonic resonator architecture of isotropic CdTe quantum dots, we observed polarized light emission of 80% in the vertical polarization with an enhancement factor of 4.4, resulting in a steady-state anisotropy value of 0.26 and reaching the highest quantum efficiency level of 30% ever reported for such CdTe quantum dot solids. Our electromagnetic simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental characterization data showing a significant emission enhancement in the vertical polarization, for which their fluorescence decay lifetimes are substantially shortened by consecutive replication of our unit cell architecture design. Such strongly plasmon-exciton coupling nanocomposites hold great promise for future exploitation and development of quantum dot plasmonic biophotonics and quantum dot plasmonic optoelectronics.

We propose and demonstrate a design concept of volumetric plasmonic resonators that relies on the idea of incorporating coupled layers of plasmonic structures embedded into a solar cell in enhanced optical absorption for surface-normal and off-axis angle configurations, beyond the enhancement limit of individual plasmonic layers. For a proof-of-concept demonstration in a thin-film organic solar cell that uses absorbing materials of copper phthalocyanine/perylene tetracarboxylic bisbenzimidazole, we couple two silver grating layers such that the field localization is further extended within the volume of active layers. Our computational results show a maximum optical absorption enhancement level of ∼67% under air mass 1.5 global illumination considering both polarizations. © 2011 American Institute of Physics

A low-loss and broadband multimode interference (MMI)-based wavelength multi/demultiplexer in Si 3 N 4 /SiO 2 technology for erbium-doped lasing and amplifying applications is presented. The structural parameters of a 2 × 1 Si 3 N 4 MMI multi/demultiplexer are optimized to minimize losses. The design and analysis of the MMI multi/demultiplexer are carried out using a hybrid approach, which combines a modified effective index method, the 2D film mode matching method, and the 2D beam propagation method, with lower impact in the computing requirements and simulation time than 3D methods. Simulated total losses of 0.19 and 0.23 dB at 980 and 1550 nm, respectively were obtained for the optimized MMI multi/demultiplexer. The measurements of our fabricated couplers, with 110 nm thick Si 3 N 4 layer, show good agreement with our design. As multiplexers, the average losses of the MMI were measured to be 0.4 ± 0.3 dB for both 976 and 1550 nm wavelengths, and less than 1 dB across the whole C-band. As demultiplexers, the measured average extinction ratio of the fabricated MMI was found to be 21.4 ± 1.2 and 26.3 ± 0.8 dB for pump and signal wavelengths, respectively. Index Terms-Beam propagation and laser couplers, integrated optoelectronics, multi/demultiplexer, multimode interference (MMI), silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ).