Browsing by Author "Kaiser, Alex"

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A low cost and large-scale synthesis of 3D photonic crystal with SP2 lattice symmetry
(2019-08-01)
Hsieh, Mei-Li
;
Chen, Shu-Yu
;
Kaiser, Alex
;
Yan, Yang-Jhe
;
Frey, B.
In this work, a novel lithographic method is proposed to prepare three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystal (PC) that is different from conventional top-down and bottom-up approaches. The method combines a 2D optical mask and off-the-axis double optical exposures to create a desirable 3D PC structure. Since the method uses only two optical exposures of a photo-resist layer, it is inherently a low-cost, high throughput and wafer-scale lithographic method. The method is implemented to make a slanted post 3D PC having the SP2 lattice symmetry. Three types of SP2 3D PC structures were successfully fabricated with a minimum feature size of d=1.5 mu m over a large scale of 8x10 mm(2), without any observable fabrication defects. The SP2 PCs are: (i) SU8 posts in air background, (ii) air pores in CdS background and (iii) Pt coated on SU8 SP2 templates. A spectroscopic study of the SP2 PCs shows select spectral regions of high reflectance, indicating the existence of a photonic stop band. This low-cost and large-scale method could enable broader technological impacts of 3D PC materials in areas such as thermo-photovoltaics and above room-temperature Bose-Einstein Condensation. Furthermore, this off-axis method could lead to the creation of an entirely new class of slanted-rod based photonic crystals, such as topological photonic crystal in 3D. (C) 2019 Author(s).
Experimental demonstration of broadband solar absorption beyond the lambertian limit in certain thin silicon photonic crystals
(2020-07-16)
Hsieh, Mei-Li
;
Kaiser, Alex
;
Bhattacharya, Sayak
;
John, Sajeev
;
Lin, Shawn-Yu
The tantalizing possibility of 31% solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency in thin film crystalline silicon solar cell architectures relies essentially on solar absorption well beyond the Lambertian light trapping limit (Bhattacharya and John in Nat Sci Rep 9:12482, 2019). Up to now, no solar cell architecture has exhibited above-Lambertian solar absorption, integrated over the broad solar spectrum. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate two types of photonic crystal (PhC) solar cells architectures that exceed Lambertian light absorption, integrated over the entire 300-1,200 nm wavelength band. These measurements confirm theoretically predicted wave-interference-based optical resonances associated with long lifetime, slow-light modes and parallel-to-interface refraction. These phenomena are beyond the realm of ray optics. Using two types of 10-mu m thick PhC's, first an Inverted Pyramid PhC with lattice constant a=2,500 nm and second a Teepee PhC with a=1,200 nm, we observe solar absorption well beyond the Lambertian limit over lambda =950-1,200 nm. Our absorption measurements correspond to the maximum-achievable-photocurrent-density (MAPD), under AM1.5G illumination at 4-degree incident angle, 41.29 and 41.52 mA/cm(2) for the Inverted Pyramid and Teepee PhC, respectively, in agreement with wave-optics, numerical simulations. Both of these values exceed the MAPD (=39.63 mA/cm(2)) corresponding to the Lambertian limit for a 10-mu m thick silicon for solar absorption over the 300-1,200 nm band.