Plasmonic excitation of organic double heterostructure solar cells

Mapel, Jonathan K.; Singh, Madhusudan; Baldo, Marc A.; Çelebi, Kemal

doi:10.1063/1.2714193

Cited by 62 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…1, Methods). The Ag NW guides 10 SPs to the Ag/Ge junction, where they are converted to electron-hole (e-h) pairs [11][12][13] and detected as current through the Ge NW. The Ag NWs are highly crystalline and defect-free 8,14,15 , allowing SPs to propagate over distances of several microns without scattering into free-space photons.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Near-field electrical detection of optical plasmons and single-plasmon sources

Falk¹,

Koppens²,

et al. 2009

Nature Phys

312

272

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* These authors contribute equally to this work.Photonic circuits can be much faster than their electronic counterparts, but they are difficult to miniaturize below the optical wavelength scale. Nanoscale photonic circuits based on surface plasmon polaritons (SPs) are a promising solution to this problem because they can localize light below the diffraction limit 1-8 . However, there is a general tradeoff between the localization of an SP and the efficiency with which it can be detected with conventional far-field optics. Here we describe a new all-electrical SP detection technique based on the near-field coupling between guided plasmons and a nanowire field-effect transistor. We use our detectors to electrically detect the plasmon emission from an individual colloidal quantum dot coupled to an SP waveguide. The detectors are both nanoscale and highly efficient (0.1 electrons/plasmon), and a plasmonic gating effect can be used to amplify the signal even higher (up to 50 electrons/plasmon). These results enable new on-chip optical sensing applications and fulfill a key requirement for "dark" optoplasmonic nanocircuits in which SPs can be generated, manipulated, and detected without involving far-field radiation.2 SPs are charge-density waves that propagate along metal-dielectric interfaces. They can be concentrated and guided by current carrying wires, suggesting an integrated approach to optical and electrical signal processing. Our near-field plasmon detection scheme consists of an Ag nanowire (NW) crossing a Ge NW field-effect transistor (Fig. 1, Methods). The Ag NW guides 10 SPs to the Ag/Ge junction, where they are converted to electron-hole (e-h) pairs 11-13 and detected as current through the Ge NW. The Ag NWs are highly crystalline and defect-free 8,14,15 , allowing SPs to propagate over distances of several microns without scattering into free-space photons. The Ge NWs are lightly p-doped, covered with a thin native oxide layer, and sensitive to visible light 16 .Electrical plasmon detection is demonstrated by scanning a focused laser beam across an Ag/Ge crossbar device and recording the current (I) through the Ge NW as a function of the diffraction-limited laser spot position. These data, recorded at V b = V gate = 0, show that current flows through the Ge NW only when the laser beam is focused on four distinct spots on the device (Fig. 1b). First, current is detected when the laser is focused near the Ag/Ge junction, due to the direct photoresponse of the Ge NW 16 . The photocurrent induced on the left (I left ) and right (I right ) sides of the junction have opposite signs (discussed below). Moreover, current through the Ge NW (I plas ) is recorded when the laser is focused at either end of the Ag NW.This I plas signal is the key signature for electrical SP detection. Propagating SPs can be launched in the Ag NW only when the excitation laser is incident on the Ag NW ends 15 . Away from the ends, free space photon-to-SP conversion is strongly suppressed by the wave vector mismatch between the two ...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Near-field electrical detection of optical plasmons and single-plasmon sources

Falk¹,

Koppens²,

et al. 2009

Nature Phys

312

272

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“…Figure 9 illustrates the dispersion relation obtained from eqs. (7) and (8). When incident light normally impinges on the patterned surface, eq.…”

Section: Influence Of Micro-structural Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The radiation characteristics of the different micro-structured surfaces have been theoretically [4][5][6][7][8][9] and experimentally [10][11][12] investigated by a number of researchers to improve the spectral features of solar cell surfaces. When the materials and the micro-structural characteristics of solar cells are in a certain relation, the surface plasmon polaritons will be excited and the absorption of sunlight will be enhanced, which will remarkably improve the conversion efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation on the temperature-dependence of absorption properties of solar cells with micro-structured surfaces

Yang

Xuan

Han

et al. 2010

Sci. China Technol. Sci.

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The temperature of a solar cell will increase when it is exposed to the sunlight, which results in variations of optical parameters and thermal expansion coefficient of the cell, thus affecting its spectral absorption feature. This paper is aimed to investigate the effects of temperature on the absorption property of solar cells with micro-structured surfaces. By taking hemispherical, cylindrical and spherical surfaces as models, numerical computation is conducted to obtain spectral distribution of absorptance of such surfaces with different structural parameters by means of the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Furthermore, the effects of material properties and structural period on the absorption property are also investigated. temperature, dielectric function, thermal expansion coefficient, absorption property Citation: Yang L L, Xuan Y M, Han Y G, et al. Investigation on the temperature-dependence of absorption prop-erties of solar cells with micro-structured surfaces.

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“…SPPs are a particularly effective energy transfer mechanism as they propagate in the plane of the PV rather than parallel to the incident radiation, thereby providing a more efficient means of pumping thin charge generating structures. 11 By externalizing light absorption in a thick antenna, the thickness of the charge generating component of the device can be reduced such that the internal quantum efficiencies can approach 100%. 12 In addition, the SPP mode extends deeply into both dielectric layers, extending the range of energy transfer up to ~ 100 nm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of surface plasmon polariton mediated energy transfer in organic photovoltaic devices

et al. 2007

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Organic photovoltaics (PV) are constrained by a tradeoff between exciton diffusion and optical absorption. The short exciton diffusion length within organic semiconductors demands the use of extremely absorptive materials. Unfortunately, the excitonic character of most organic materials yields highly structured absorption spectra, with regions of strong and weak absorption. Here, we describe a device architecture that decouples light absorption and exciton diffusion in organic PV through the addition of a light absorbing 'antenna' layer external to the conventional charge generating layers. Radiation absorbed by the antenna is transferred into the thin charge generating layers via surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) in an interfacial thin silver contact and radiation into waveguide modes. SPPs are a particularly effective energy transfer mechanism as they propagate in the plane of the PV rather than parallel to the incident radiation, thereby providing a more efficient means of pumping thin charge generating structures. We exploit efficient SPP-mediated energy transfer by attaching a resonant cavity antenna to a conventional small-molecular weight organic PV. We find that the resonant cavity antenna boosts the performance of a phthalocyanine-based PV in the absorption gap between the phthalocyanine Q and Soret bands. Off resonance the antenna serves as a mirror, but near the resonant wavelength, the antenna absorption is significantly enhanced, and energy is fed back into the PV cell via SPPmediated energy transfer. Thus, the resonant antenna may be employed to supplement the performance of the PV cell at resonance, with no degradation off-resonance.

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Plasmonic excitation of organic double heterostructure solar cells

Cited by 62 publications

References 13 publications

Near-field electrical detection of optical plasmons and single-plasmon sources

Near-field electrical detection of optical plasmons and single-plasmon sources

Investigation on the temperature-dependence of absorption properties of solar cells with micro-structured surfaces

Analysis of surface plasmon polariton mediated energy transfer in organic photovoltaic devices

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