Experimental demonstration of hot-carrier photo-current in an InGaAs quantum well solar cell

An unambiguous observation of hot-carrier photocurrent from an InGaAs single quantum well solar cell is reported. Simultaneous photo-current and photoluminescence measurements were performed for incident power density 0.04-3kW cm(-2), lattice temperature 10K, and forward bias 1.2V. An order of magnitude photocurrent increase was observed for non-equilibrium hot-carrier temperatures >35 K. This photocurrent activation temperature is consistent with that of equilibrium carriers in a lattice at elevated temperature. The observed hot-carrier photo-current is extracted from the well over an energy selective GaAs barrier, thus integrating two essential components of a hot-carrier solar cell: a hot-carrier absorber and an energy selective contact. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.