Theory of bulk photovoltaic effect in Anderson insulator

The localization of wavefunction by disorder makes a conductive material an insulator with vanishing conductivity at zero temperature. A similar outcome is expected for the photocurrent in semiconductor p-n junctions because the photoexcited carriers cannot drift through the device. In contrast, we here show numerically that the bulk photovoltaic effect-the photovoltaic effect in noncentrosymmetric bulk materials-occurs in a non-centrosymmetric, disordered, one-dimensional insulator where all eigenstates are localized. We find this photocurrent remains, even when the energy scale of random potential is larger than the bandwidth. On the other hand, the photocurrent decays exponentially when the excitation is local, i.e., when only a part of the device is illuminated. The photocurrent also vanishes if the relaxation occurs only by contact with the electrodes. Our result implies that the ratio of the photovoltaic current and the direct current by the variable-range hopping increases with decreasing temperature. These results suggest a route to design high-efficiency solar cells and photodetectors.

Automated summary

The localization of wavefunction due to disorder leads to the occurrence of the bulk photovoltaic effect in a non-centrosymmetric, disordered, one-dimensional insulator. The photocurrent remains present even when the energy scale of random potential exceeds the bandwidth. However, the photocurrent decays exponentially when the excitation is local, and vanishes if the relaxation occurs solely by contact with the electrodes. These results suggest potential avenues for designing high-efficiency solar cells and photodetectors.