Photonic structures for enhanced upconversion

B. Herter; S. Wolf; S. Fischer; J. Gutmann; B. Bläsi; J. C. Goldschmidt

doi:10.1117/12.2023845

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25 September 2013 Photonic structures for enhanced upconversion

B. Herter, S. Wolf, S. Fischer, J. Gutmann, B. Bläsi, J. C. Goldschmidt

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Proceedings Volume 8824, Next Generation (Nano) Photonic and Cell Technologies for Solar Energy Conversion IV; 88240A (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2023845
Event: SPIE Solar Energy + Technology, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Upconversion of low-energy photons presents a possibility to overcome the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit for solar cells. In silicon 20% of the incident energy is lost due to transmission of these photons with energies below the band gap. Unfortunately, upconversion materials known today show pretty low absorption and quantum yields which are too low for this application. One possibility to boost the upconversion luminescence and even the quantum yield could be the embedding of the material in a suitable photonic structure environment. This influences the local irradiance onto the upconverter and the local density of states at the transition wavelengths. Thus, the radiative recombination from a specific energy level can be influenced. Hence, this approach has the potential to beneficially influence the upconversion quantum yield. For the buried grating structure shown here, a luminescence enhancement by a factor of 1.85 could be achieved, averaged over the grating.

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B. Herter, S. Wolf, S. Fischer, J. Gutmann, B. Bläsi, and J. C. Goldschmidt "Photonic structures for enhanced upconversion", Proc. SPIE 8824, Next Generation (Nano) Photonic and Cell Technologies for Solar Energy Conversion IV, 88240A (25 September 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2023845

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