No Arabic abstract
Understanding the maximal enhancement of solar absorption in semiconductor materials by light trapping promises the development of affordable solar cells. However, the conventional Lambertian limit is only valid for idealized material systems with weak absorption, and cannot hold for the typical semiconductor materials used in solar cells due to the substantial absorption of these materials. Herein we theoretically demonstrate the maximal solar absorption enhancement for semiconductor materials and elucidate the general design principle for light trapping structures to approach the theoretical maximum. By following the principles, we design a practical light trapping structure that can enable an ultrathin layer of semiconductor materials,for instance, 10 nm thick a-Si, absorb > 90% sunlight above the bandgap. The design has active materials with one order of magnitude less volume than any of the existing solar light trapping designs in literature. This work points towards the development of ultimate solar light trapping techniques.
We theoretically demonstrate the fundamental limit in volume for given materials (e.g. Si, a-Si, CdTe) to fully absorb the solar radiation above bandgap, which we refer as solar superabsorption limit. We also point out the general principles for experimentally designing light trapping structures to approach the superabsorption. This study builds upon an intuitive model, coupled leaky mode theory (CLMT), for the analysis of light absorption in nanostructures. The CLMT provides a useful variable transformation. Unlike the existing methods that rely on information of physical features (e.g. morphology, dimensionality) to analyze light absorption, the CLMT can evaluate light absorption in given materials with only two variables, the radiative loss and the resonant wavelength, of leaky modes, regardless the physical features of the materials. This transformation allows for surveying the entire variable space to find out the solar superabsorption and provides physical insights to guide the design of solar superabsorbing structures.
Transferring entangled states between photon pairs is essential for quantum communication technologies. Semiconductor quantum dots are the most promising candidate for generating polarization-entangled photons deterministically. Recent improvements in photonic quality and brightness now make them suited for complex quantum optical purposes in practical devices. Here we demonstrate for the first time swapping of entangled states between two pairs of photons emitted by a single quantum dot. A joint Bell measurement heralds the successful generation of the Bell state $Psi^+$ with a fidelity of up to $0.81 pm 0.04$. The states nonlocal nature is confirmed by violating the CHSH-Bell inequality. Our photon source is compatible with atom-based quantum memories, enabling implementation of hybrid quantum repeaters. This experiment thus is a major step forward for semiconductor based quantum communication technologies.
Ferroelectric field-effect transistors employ a ferroelectric material as a gate insulator, the polarization state of which can be detected using the channel conductance of the device. As a result, the devices are of potential to use in non-volatile memory technology, but suffer from short retention times, which limits their wider application. Here we report a ferroelectric semiconductor field-effect transistor in which a two-dimensional ferroelectric semiconductor, indium selenide ({alpha}-In2Se3), is used as the channel material in the device. {alpha}-In2Se3 was chosen due to its appropriate bandgap, room temperature ferroelectricity, ability to maintain ferroelectricity down to a few atomic layers, and potential for large-area growth. A passivation method based on the atomic-layer deposition of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) was developed to protect and enhance the performance of the transistors. With 15-nm-thick hafnium oxide (HfO2) as a scaled gate dielectric, the resulting devices offer high performance with a large memory window, a high on/off ratio of over 108, a maximum on-current of 862 {mu}A {mu}m-1, and a low supply voltage.
Realizing topological superconductivity and Majorana zero modes in the laboratory is one of the major goals in condensed matter physics. We review the current status of this rapidly-developing field, focusing on semiconductor-superconductor proposals for topological superconductivity. Material science progress and robust signatures of Majorana zero modes in recent experiments are discussed. After a brief introduction to the subject, we outline several next-generation experiments probing exotic properties of Majorana zero modes, including fusion rules and non-Abelian exchange statistics. Finally, we discuss prospects for implementing Majorana-based topological quantum computation in these systems.
We report a type of solar cells based on graphene/CdTe Schottky heterostructure, which can be improved by surface engineering as graphene is one-atomic thin. By coating a layer of ultrathin CdSe quantum dots onto graphene/CdTe heterostructure, the power conversion efficiency is increased from 2.08% to 3.1%. Photo-induced doping is mainly accounted for this enhancement, as evidenced by transport, photoluminescence and quantum efficiency measurements. This work demonstrates a feasible way of designing solar cells with incorporating one dimensional and two dimensional materials.