Quantum cascade photon ratchets for intermediate band solar cells
| Autor: | O. J. Curtin, N. P. Hylton, Ortwin Hess, Ned Ekins-Daukes, Megumi Yoshida, Andreas Pusch, Chris Phillips |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Technology
Photon EFFICIENCY Energy & Fuels Ratchet Materials Science Materials Science Multidisciplinary 02 engineering and technology 01 natural sciences law.invention Physics Applied Condensed Matter::Materials Science law 0103 physical sciences Solar cell ABSORPTION Spontaneous emission Electrical and Electronic Engineering 010302 applied physics Physics Theory of solar cells photon ratchet Science & Technology Heterojunction 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Condensed Matter Physics Electronic Optical and Magnetic Materials Multiple exciton generation Cascade Physical Sciences LASER Atomic physics 0210 nano-technology Intermediate-band solar cell (IBSC) |
| Popis: | We propose an antimonide-based quantum cascade design to demonstrate the ratchet mechanism for incorporation into the recently suggested photon ratchet intermediate-band solar cell. We realize the photon ratchet as a semiconductor heterostructure in which electrons are optically excited into an intermediate band and spatially decoupled from the valence band through a type-II quantum cascade. This process reduces both radiative and nonradiative recombination and can thereby increase the solar cell efficiency over intermediate-band solar cells. Our design method uses an adaptive simulated annealing genetic algorithm to determine the optimum thicknesses of semiconductor layers in the quantum cascade, allowing efficient transport (via phonon emission) of the electrons away from the interband active region. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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