The emerging field of plasmonics has yielded methods for guiding and localizing light at the nanoscale, well below the scale of the wavelength of light in free space. Now plasmonics researchers are turning their attention to photovoltaics, where design approaches based on plasmonics can be used to improve absorption in photovoltaic devices, permitting a considerable reduction in the physical thickness of solar photovoltaic absorber layers, and yielding new options for solar-cell design. In this review, we survey recent advances at the intersection of plasmonics and photovoltaics and offer an outlook on the future of solar cells based on these principles.

Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices

Fundamentals of Plasmonics.- Electromagnetics of Metals.- Surface Plasmon Polaritons at Metal / Insulator Interfaces.- Excitation of Surface Plasmon Polaritons at Planar Interfaces.- Imaging Surface Plasmon Polariton Propagation.- Localized Surface Plasmons.- Electromagnetic Surface Modes at Low Frequencies.- Applications.- Plasmon Waveguides.- Transmission of Radiation Through Apertures and Films.- Enhancement of Emissive Processes and Nonlinearities.- Spectroscopy and Sensing.- Metamaterials and Imaging with Surface Plasmon Polaritons.- Concluding Remarks.

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Plasmonics: Fundamentals and Applications

Recent years have seen a rapid expansion of research into nanophotonics based on surface plasmon–polaritons. These electromagnetic waves propagate along metal–dielectric interfaces and can be guided by metallic nanostructures beyond the diffraction limit. This remarkable capability has unique prospects for the design of highly integrated photonic signal-processing systems, nanoresolution optical imaging techniques and sensors. This Review summarizes the basic principles and major achievements of plasmon guiding, and details the current state-of-the-art in subwavelength plasmonic waveguides, passive and active nanoplasmonic components for the generation, manipulation and detection of radiation, and configurations for the nanofocusing of light. Potential future developments and applications of nanophotonic devices and circuits are also discussed, such as in optical signals processing, nanoscale optical devices and near-field microscopy with nanoscale resolution.

Plasmonics beyond the diffraction limit

We present the science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, and hybrid systems, targeting an evolution in technology, that might lead to impacts and benefits reaching into most areas of society. This roadmap was developed within the framework of the European Graphene Flagship and outlines the main targets and research areas as best understood at the start of this ambitious project. We provide an overview of the key aspects of graphene and related materials (GRMs), ranging from fundamental research challenges to a variety of applications in a large number of sectors, highlighting the steps necessary to take GRMs from a state of raw potential to a point where they might revolutionize multiple industries. We also define an extensive list of acronyms in an effort to standardize the nomenclature in this emerging field.

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Science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, and hybrid systems

Two rich and vibrant fields of investigation, graphene physics and plasmonics, strongly overlap Not only does graphene possess intrinsic plasmons that are tunable and adjustable, but a combination of graphene with noble-metal nanostructures promises a variety of exciting applications for conventional plasmonics The versatility of graphene means that graphene-based plasmonics may enable the manufacture of novel optical devices working in different frequency ranges, from terahertz to the visible, with extremely high speed, low driving voltage, low power consumption and compact sizes Here we review the field emerging at the intersection of graphene physics and plasmonics

Graphene plasmonics

Photonic components are superior to electronic ones in terms of operational bandwidth, but the diffraction limit of light poses a significant challenge to the miniaturization and high-density integration of optical circuits. The main approach to circumvent this problem is to exploit the hybrid nature of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which are light waves coupled to free electron oscillations in a metal that can be laterally confined below the diffraction limit using subwavelength metal structures. However, the simultaneous realization of strong confinement and a propagation loss sufficiently low for practical applications has long been out of reach. Channel SPP modes--channel plasmon polaritons (CPPs)--are electromagnetic waves that are bound to and propagate along the bottom of V-shaped grooves milled in a metal film. They are expected to exhibit useful subwavelength confinement, relatively low propagation loss, single-mode operation and efficient transmission around sharp bends. Our previous experiments showed that CPPs do exist and that they propagate over tens of micrometres along straight subwavelength grooves. Here we report the design, fabrication and characterization of CPP-based subwavelength waveguide components operating at telecom wavelengths: Y-splitters, Mach-Zehnder interferometers and waveguide-ring resonators. We demonstrate that CPP guides can indeed be used for large-angle bending and splitting of radiation, thereby enabling the realization of ultracompact plasmonic components and paving the way for a new class of integrated optical circuits.

Channel plasmon subwavelength waveguide components including interferometers and ring resonators

We fabricate and investigate wavelength selective components utilizing channel plasmon polaritons (CPPs) and operate at telecom wavelengths: a waveguide-ring resonator-based add-drop multiplexer (WRR-ADM) and a compact (3.75-microm-long) Bragg grating filter (BGF). The CPP waveguides represent 0.5-microm-wide and 1.3-microm-deep V-grooves in gold, which are combined with a 5-microm-radius ring resonator (in the WRR-ADM) or 0.5-microm-long wells milled with the period of 0.75 microm across a groove (in the BGF). The CPP-based components are characterized in the wavelength range of 1425-1600 nm by use of near-field optical microscopy, exhibiting the wavelength selectivity of approximately 40 nm.

Wavelength selective nanophotonic components utilizing channel plasmon polaritons.

Light interacts differently with left and right handed three dimensional chiral objects, like helices, and this leads to the phenomenon known as optical activity. Here, by applying a polarization tomography, we show experimentally, for the first time in the visible domain, that chirality has a different optical manifestation for twisted planar nanostructured metallic objects acting as isolated chiral metaobjects. Our analysis demonstrate how surface plasmons, which are lossy bidimensional electromagnetic waves propagating on top of the structure, can delocalize light information in the just precise way for giving rise to this subtle effect.

Optical chirality without optical activity: How surface plasmons give a twist to light

Optical transmission through arrays of subwavelength apertures is studied systematically in different metals over the optical spectral range in comparable conditions. The results provide an absolute comparison and thereby highlight the influence of the dielectric constants, surface excitations, interband transitions and different loss mechanisms. Only noble metals such as Ag, Au and Cu give rise to significant transmission in the optical regime. Hole arrays in W transmit very poorly, as expected, since W cannot sustain surface plasmons in the optical range.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1464-4258/8/5/015/pdf

Optical transmission in perforated noble and transition metal films

The launching of surface plasmons by micro-gratings of subwavelength apertures milled in a thick metal film is important for the development of surface plasmon based circuits. By comparing the near-field optical images of such surface plasmon sources with the results of a Huygens-Fresnel principle based scattering model, we show that the properties of the locally launched SP beams such as divergence or uniformity can be tuned by adjusting the shape of the micro-gratings. This allows us to propose an optimized source array well adapted for providing a narrow, collimated and uniform beam.

J.-Y. Laluet

Papers

Channel plasmon subwavelength waveguide components including interferometers and ring resonators

Wavelength selective nanophotonic components utilizing channel plasmon polaritons.

Optical chirality without optical activity: How surface plasmons give a twist to light

Optical transmission in perforated noble and transition metal films

Optimization of surface plasmons launching from subwavelength hole arrays: modelling and experiments.