Research Groups

Research Group 1: New Light Management Mechanisms

RG Leader: Eli Yablonovitch
Affiliated PIs: Harry Atwater, Paul Braun, Mark Brongersma, Jennifer Dionne, Shanhui Fan, Andrei Faraon, John Rogers, and Xiang Zhang

 

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Large-area nanostructured plasmonic solar cells in amorphous silicon (H. Atwater, Caltech & P. Alivisatos, LBNL

The RG1 team is establishing light management principles that challenge historical scientific ideas about solar energy conversion efficiency limits. RG1 is a theoretically motivated effort to develop building block components and optical mechanisms connecting to RG2, RG3, and RG4. We focus on manipulation of emitted and scattered light from the solar cells, investigating photonic structures that enable photon recycling, as well as complex optics including 2D metasurfaces and 3D metamaterials for light concentration.

 

RG1 research is centered around three themes of new light management mechanisms for photovoltaics:

  • Advanced techniques for design and characterization of optics for photovoltaics
  • Manipulating light scattering and radiative emission
  • Metaphotonic structures for light concentration

 


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