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Meadowlark Optics - Wave Plates 6/24 LB 2024

Research at the Nanoscale Boosts Green Photonics

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Marie Freebody, Contributing Editor, [email protected]

Improving the efficiency of thin-film solar cells is a key challenge, and some believe that nanophotonics could be the answer. Nanophotonic structures give us better control over light, enabling us to manipulate it in ways never seen before – and enabling a new field in optics to emerge, one that marries nanophotonics with energy-saving efforts. One of the exciting aspects of nanophotonics is its potential to overcome some of the conventional performance limits of thin-film solar cells. Nanophotonics can enhance light-trapping efficiency, which in turn increases the cells’...Read full article

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    Published: December 2011
    Glossary
    fan
    A set of rays through a lens originating at a common point and contained in one plane.
    nano
    An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
    plasmonics
    Plasmonics is a field of science and technology that focuses on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and free electrons in a metal or semiconductor at the nanoscale. Specifically, plasmonics deals with the collective oscillations of these free electrons, known as surface plasmons, which can confine and manipulate light on the nanometer scale. Surface plasmons are formed when incident photons couple with the conduction electrons at the interface between a metal or semiconductor...
    surface-enhanced raman scattering
    Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful analytical technique that enhances the Raman scattering signal of molecules adsorbed on or near certain nanostructured surfaces. Raman scattering is a process in which light interacts with molecular vibrations, providing a fingerprint-like spectrum that can be used to identify and characterize chemical compounds. SERS significantly amplifies the Raman signal, making it more sensitive and allowing for the detection of molecules at very low...
    Aaswath Ramanamorphous siliconBasic Sciencebowtie antennacadmium tellurideCdTeCIGSCopper Indium Gallium Selenidecrystal siliconDagenaisenergyFanFeaturesImagingindustrialMarie FreebodyMario DagenaisMaryland NanoCenterMaterials & ChemicalsMetal-Insulator-MetalMicroscopyMIM diodeMulti-junction solar cellsnanonanoantennasnanoimprintingnear-field scanning optical microscopyoptical antennasphotovoltaicsplasma polaritonplasmonic lensesplasmonic resonatorsplasmonicspolycrystalline siliconproximity-corrected e-beam lithographysecond law of thermodynamicssemiconductorsSensors & DetectorsShanhui Fansingle junctionsolar cellsspectroscopyStanford Photonics Research CenterStanford Universitysurface plasmonsurface-enhanced Raman scatteringtunneling diodesUniversity of MarylandYuZongfu Yu

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