Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 107, Issue 41, Pages 17491-17496Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1008296107
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Funding
- Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics [KUSC1-015-21]
- Department of Energy [DE-FG02-07ER46426]
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
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Establishing the fundamental limit of nanophotonic light-trapping schemes is of paramount importance and is becoming increasingly urgent for current solar cell research. The standard theory of light trapping demonstrated that absorption enhancement in a medium cannot exceed a factor of 4n(2)/sin(2) theta, where n is the refractive index of the active layer, and theta is the angle of the emission cone in the medium surrounding the cell. This theory, however, is not applicable in the nanophotonic regime. Here we develop a statistical temporal coupled-mode theory of light trapping based on a rigorous electromagnetic approach. Our theory reveals that the conventional limit can be substantially surpassed when optical modes exhibit deep-subwavelength-scale field confinement, opening new avenues for highly efficient next-generation solar cells.
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