Anisotropic emission and photon-recycling in strain-balanced quantum well solar cells
- Academic Unit of Physics, Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Czda. Solidaridad y Paseo La Bufa S/N, 98060 Zacatecas, Zac. (Mexico)
- Solar Cell Laboratory, Institute of Materials Science and Technology (IMRE), University of Havana, Zapata y G, 10400 La Habana (Cuba)
- Nanophotonics Technology Center, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, 46022 Valencia (Spain)
Strain-balanced quantum well solar cells (SB-QWSCs) extend the photon absorption edge beyond that of bulk GaAs by incorporation of quantum wells in the i-region of a p–i–n device. Anisotropy arises from a splitting of the valence band due to compressive strain in the quantum wells, suppressing a transition which contributes to emission from the edge of the quantum wells. We have studied both the emission light polarized in the plane perpendicular (TM) to the quantum well which couples exclusively to the light hole transition and the emission polarized in the plane of the quantum wells (TE) which couples mainly to the heavy hole transition. It was found that the spontaneous emission rates TM and TE increase when the quantum wells are deeper. The addition of a distributed Bragg reflector can substantially increase the photocurrent while decreasing the radiative recombination current. We have examined the impact of the photon recycling effect on SB-QWSC performance. We have optimized SB-QWSC design to achieve single junction efficiencies above 30%.
- OSTI ID:
- 22273527
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 16; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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