Andrea Alù

Publications (2)3.59 Total impact

• Article: Dual-interface gratings for broadband absorption enhancement in thin-film solar cells

  Aimi Abass, Khai Q. Le, Andrea Alù, Marc Burgelman, Bjorn Maes
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  ABSTRACT: We numerically study complex dual-interface grating systems to enhance absorption efficiency in thin-film silicon solar cells. We combine a plasmonic grating at the back side of the solar cell with a dielectric grating at the front side of the cell. We show a proof of principle, with one-dimensional gratings, that the distinctly different nature of the gratings can provide complementary enhancement mechanisms, which we further exploit by tailoring the specific periodicities, and by introducing blazing. Having different periods at specific interfaces allows for more efficient diffraction into both plasmonic and dielectric guided modes. In addition, grating specific blazing exposes extra modes to normal incident light through symmetry breaking. Multiple optimization routes are possible depending on the choice of photonic phenomena.
  Phys. Rev. B. 03/2012; 85(11).
• Article: Comparing plasmonic and dielectric gratings for absorption enhancement in thin-film organic solar cells.

  Khai Q Le, Aimi Abass, Bjorn Maes, Peter Bienstman, Andrea Alù
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  ABSTRACT: We theoretically investigate and compare the influence of square silver gratings and one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D PC) based nanostructures on the light absorption of organic solar cells with a thin active layer. We show that, by integrating the grating inside the active layer, excited localized surface plasmon modes may cause strong field enhancement at the interface between the grating and the active layer, which results in broadband absorption enhancement of up to 23.4%. Apart from using silver gratings, we show that patterning a 1D PC on top of the device may also result in a comparable broadband absorption enhancement of 18.9%. The enhancement is due to light scattering of the 1D PC, coupling the incoming light into 1D PC Bloch and surface plasmon resonance modes.
  Optics Express 01/2012; 20(1):A39-50. · 3.59 Impact Factor