On the broadband continuous excitation of surface-plasmon-polariton waves in an amorphous silicon solar cell (Presentation Recording)

Abstract

Currently, the surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves can be excited only at certain wavelength and certain incidence angle. It is remarkably noticed that the wavenumber of the SPP waves decreases as the incident wavelength increases. This stands against the continuous excitation of SPP waves at certain incidence angle using a practical grating configuration. We hypothesized that the theoretical modeling of SPP waves guided by the interface of a dielectric grating and a metal will help to solve that problem. The aim of the study is to prove that the proposed grating/metal configuration has propensity of guiding SPP waves of relative wavenumber that increases as the incident electromagnetic wavelength increases. This may enable the continuous excitation of SPP waves. The successful attempt of proving the aim of this study will validate the excitation of SPP waves at certain incidence angle but at wider range of incident wavelength. This result will have a great impact on the communication and energy harvesting applications. The rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) is used to solve the Maxwell equations in its differential form. The Newton-Raphson method is used to solve the dispersion equation at the grating/metal interface for the SPP wavenumber. This provides the wavenumber of the SPP waves that can propagate at the grating metal interface. A study for the SPP wave energy decay will also be made through the calculation of the Poynting vector, and show that the propagating SPP waves decay away from the grating/metal interface, which infers the surfacing property of the propagating waves.