Improving Upconversion Efficiency Based on Cross-Patterned Upconversion Material Slot Waveguides on a Silicon Layer

Upconversion (UC) materials can be used to harvest near-infrared (NIR) light and convert it into visible light. Although this improves optical device operating spectral range and efficiency, e.g., solar cells, typical UC material conversion efficiency is too low for practical devices. We propose a cross-patterned slot waveguide constructed from UC material embedded in a high index semiconductor layer to improve UC. Since the slot waveguide mode is induced in the low index UC slot, NIR absorption (970 nm) increased 25-fold compared with film structures. Furthermore, the spontaneous emission enhancement rate at 660 nm increased 9.6-fold compared to the reference film due to resonance excited in the UC slot (Purcell effect). Thus, the proposed UC slot array structure improved UC efficiency 240-fold considering absorption and emission enhancements. This double resonance UC improvement can be applied to practical optical devices.