Showing papers on "Absorption (electromagnetic radiation) published in 2013"

Extraordinary Sunlight Absorption and One Nanometer Thick Photovoltaics Using Two-Dimensional Monolayer Materials

Abstract: Graphene and monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising materials for next-generation ultrathin optoelectronic devices. Although visually transparent, graphene is an excellent sunlight absorber, achieving 2.3% visible light absorbance in just 3.3 A thickness. TMD monolayers also hold potential as sunlight absorbers, and may enable ultrathin photovoltaic (PV) devices due to their semiconducting character. In this work, we show that the three TMD monolayers MoS2, MoSe2, and WS2 can absorb up to 5–10% incident sunlight in a thickness of less than 1 nm, thus achieving 1 order of magnitude higher sunlight absorption than GaAs and Si. We further study PV devices based on just two stacked monolayers: (1) a Schottky barrier solar cell between MoS2 and graphene and (2) an excitonic solar cell based on a MoS2/WS2 bilayer. We demonstrate that such 1 nm thick active layers can attain power conversion efficiencies of up to ∼1%, corresponding to approximately 1–3 orders of magnitude higher power de...

Optical gas sensing: a review

Abstract: The detection and measurement of gas concentrations using the characteristic optical absorption of the gas species is important for both understanding and monitoring a variety of phenomena from industrial processes to environmental change. This study reviews the field, covering several individual gas detection techniques including non-dispersive infrared, spectrophotometry, tunable diode laser spectroscopy and photoacoustic spectroscopy. We present the basis for each technique, recent developments in methods and performance limitations. The technology available to support this field, in terms of key components such as light sources and gas cells, has advanced rapidly in recent years and we discuss these new developments. Finally, we present a performance comparison of different techniques, taking data reported over the preceding decade, and draw conclusions from this benchmarking.

Laminated magnetic graphene with enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption properties

Abstract: Graphene is highly desirable as an electromagnetic wave absorber because of its high dielectric loss and low density. Nevertheless, pure graphene is found to be non-magnetic and contributes to microwave energy absorption mostly because of its dielectric loss, and the electromagnetic parameters of pure graphene, which are out of balance, result in a bad impedance matching characteristic. In this paper, we report a facile solvothermal route to synthesize laminated magnetic graphene. The results show that there have been significant changes in the electromagnetic properties of magnetic graphene when compared with pure graphene. Especially the dielectric Cole–Cole semicircle suggests that there are Debye relaxation processes in the laminated magnetic graphene, which prove beneficial to enhance the dielectric loss. We also proposed an electromagnetic complementary theory to explain how laminated magnetic graphene, with the combined advantages of graphene and magnetic particles, helps to improve the standard of impedance matching for electromagnetic wave absorbing materials. Besides, microwave absorption properties indicate that the reflection loss of the as-prepared composite is below −10 dB (90% absorption) at 10.4–13.2 GHz with a coating layer thickness of 2.0 mm. This further confirms that the nanoscale surface modification of magnetic particles on graphene makes graphene-based composites have a certain research value in electromagnetic wave absorption.

Calibration of X-ray absorption in our Galaxy

Abstract: Prediction of the soft X-ray absorption along lines of sight through our Galaxy is crucial for understanding the spectra of extragalactic sources, but requires a good estimate of the foreground column density of photoelectric absorbing species. Assuming uniform elemental abundances this reduces to having a good estimate of the total hydrogen column density, N(Htot)=N(HI)+2N(H2). The atomic component, N(HI), is reliably provided using the mapped 21 cm radio emission but estimating the molecular hydrogen column density, N(H2), expected for any particular direction, is difficult. The X-ray afterglows of GRBs are ideal sources to probe X-ray absorption in our Galaxy because they are extragalactic, numerous, bright, have simple spectra and occur randomly across the entire sky. We describe an empirical method, utilizing 493 afterglows detected by the Swift XRT, to determine N(Htot) through the Milky Way which provides an improved estimate of the X-ray absorption in our Galaxy and thereby leads to more reliable measurements of the intrinsic X-ray absorption and, potentially, other spectral parameters, for extragalactic X-ray sources. We derive a simple function, dependent on the product of the atomic hydrogen column density, N(HI), and dust extinction, E(B-V), which describes the variation of the molecular hydrogen column density, N(H2), of our Galaxy, over the sky. Using the resulting N(Htot) we show that the dust-to-hydrogen ratio is correlated with the carbon monoxide emission and use this ratio to estimate the fraction of material which forms interstellar dust grains. Our resulting recipe represents a significant revision in Galactic absorption compared to previous standard methods, particularly at low Galactic latitudes.

Brown carbon: a significant atmospheric absorber of solar radiation?

Abstract: Several recent observational studies have shown organic carbon aerosols to be a significant source of absorption of solar radiation The absorbing part of organic aerosols is referred to as "brown" carbon (BrC) Using a global chemical transport model and a radiative transfer model, we estimate for the first time the enhanced absorption of solar radiation due to BrC in a global model The simulated wavelength dependence of aerosol absorption, as measured by the absorption Angstrom exponent (AAE), increases from 09 for non-absorbing organic carbon to 12 (10) for strongly (moderately) absorbing BrC The calculated AAE for the strongly absorbing BrC agrees with AERONET spectral observations at 440–870 nm over most regions but overpredicts for the biomass burning-dominated South America and southern Africa, in which the inclusion of moderately absorbing BrC has better agreement The resulting aerosol absorption optical depth increases by 18% (3%) at 550 nm and 56% (38%) at 380 nm for strongly (moderately) absorbing BrC The global simulations suggest that the strongly absorbing BrC contributes up to +025 W m−2 or 19% of the absorption by anthropogenic aerosols, while 72% is attributed to black carbon, and 9% is due to sulfate and non-absorbing organic aerosols coated on black carbon Like black carbon, the absorption of BrC (moderately to strongly) inserts a warming effect at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) (004 to 011 W m−2), while the effect at the surface is a reduction (−006 to −014 W m−2) Inclusion of the strongly absorption of BrC in our model causes the direct radiative forcing (global mean) of organic carbon aerosols at the TOA to change from cooling (−008 W m−2) to warming (+0025 W m−2) Over source regions and above clouds, the absorption of BrC is higher and thus can play an important role in photochemistry and the hydrologic cycle

Narrowband photodetection in the near-infrared with a plasmon-induced hot electron device.

Abstract: In gratings, incident light can couple strongly to plasmons propagating through periodically spaced slits in a metal film, resulting in a strong, resonant absorption whose frequency is determined by the nanostructure periodicity. When a grating is patterned on a silicon substrate, the absorption response can be combined with plasmon-induced hot electron photocurrent generation. This yields a photodetector with a strongly resonant, narrowband photocurrent response in the infrared, limited at low frequencies by the Schottky barrier, not the bandgap of silicon. Here we report a grating-based hot electron device with significantly larger photocurrent responsivity than previously reported antenna-based geometries. The grating geometry also enables more than three times narrower spectral response than observed for nanoantenna-based devices. This approach opens up the possibility of plasmonic sensors with direct electrical readout, such as an on-chip surface plasmon resonance detector driven at a single wavelength.

Photosensor Device Based on Few-Layered WS2 Films

Abstract: Few-layered films of WS2, synthesized by chemical vapor deposition on quartz, are successfully used as light sensors. The film samples are structurally characterized by Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The produced samples consist of few layered sheets possessing up to 10 layers. UV–visible absorbance spectra reveals absorption peaks at energies of 1.95 and 2.33 eV, consistent with the A and B excitons characteristic of WS2. Current–voltage (I–V) and photoresponse measurements carried out at room temperature are performed by connecting the WS2 layered material with Au/Ti contacts. The photocurrent measurements are carried out using five different laser lines ranging between 457 and 647 nm. The results indicate that the electrical response strongly depends on the photon energy from the excitation lasers. In addition, it is found that the photocurrent varies non-linearly with the incident power, and the generated photocurrent in the WS2 samples varies as a squared root of the incident power. The excellent response of few-layered WS2 to detect different photon wavelengths, over a wide range of intensities, makes it a strong candidate for constructing novel optoelectronic devices.

Near-infrared phosphorescence: materials and applications

Abstract: Room-temperature phosphorescent materials that emit light in the visible (red, green, and blue; from 400 to 700 nm) have been a major focus of research and development during the past decades, due to their applications in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), light-emitting electrochemical cells, photovoltaic cells, chemical sensors, and bio-imaging. In recent years, near-infrared (NIR) phosphorescence beyond the visible region (700–2500 nm) has emerged as a new, promising, and challenging research field with potential applications toward NIR OLEDs, telecommunications, night vision-readable displays. Moreover, NIR phosphorescence holds promise for in vivo imaging, because cells and tissues exhibit little absorption and auto-fluorescence in this spectral region. This review describes the overall progress made in the past ten years on NIR phosphorescent transition-metal complexes including Cu(I), Cu(II), Cr(III), Re(I), Re(III), Ru(II), Os(II), Ir(III), Pt(II), Pd(II), Au(I), and Au(III) complexes, with a primary focus on material design complemented with a selection of optical, electronic, sensory, and biologic applications. A critical comparison of various NIR phosphorescent materials reported in the literature and a blueprint for future development in this field are also provided.

INFRARED TRANSMISSION SPECTROSCOPY OF THE EXOPLANETS HD 209458b AND XO-1b USING THE WIDE FIELD CAMERA-3 ON THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

Abstract: Exoplanetary transmission spectroscopy in the near-infrared using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) NICMOS is currently ambiguous because different observational groups claim different results from the same data, depending on their analysis methodologies. Spatial scanning with HST/WFC3 provides an opportunity to resolve this ambiguity. We here report WFC3 spectroscopy of the giant planets HD 209458b and XO-1b in transit, using spatial scanning mode for maximum photon-collecting efficiency. We introduce an analysis technique that derives the exoplanetary transmission spectrum without the necessity of explicitly decorrelating instrumental effects, and achieves nearly photon-limited precision even at the high flux levels collected in spatial scan mode. Our errors are within 6% (XO-1) and 26% (HD 209458b) of the photon-limit at a resolving power of λ/δλ ~ 70, and are better than 0.01% per spectral channel. Both planets exhibit water absorption of approximately 200 ppm at the water peak near 1.38 μm. Our result for XO-1b contradicts the much larger absorption derived from NICMOS spectroscopy. The weak water absorption we measure for HD 209458b is reminiscent of the weakness of sodium absorption in the first transmission spectroscopy of an exoplanet atmosphere by Charbonneau et al. Model atmospheres having uniformly distributed extra opacity of 0.012 cm2 g−1 account approximately for both our water measurement and the sodium absorption. Our results for HD 209458b support the picture advocated by Pont et al. in which weak molecular absorptions are superposed on a transmission spectrum that is dominated by continuous opacity due to haze and/or dust. However, the extra opacity needed for HD 209458b is grayer than for HD 189733b, with a weaker Rayleigh component.

Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy of the Exoplanets HD209458b and XO-1b Using the Wide Field Camera-3 on the Hubble Space Telescope

Abstract: Exoplanetary transmission spectroscopy in the near-infrared using Hubble/NICMOS is currently ambiguous because different observational groups claim different results from the same data, depending on their analysis methodologies. Spatial scanning with Hubble/WFC3 provides an opportunity to resolve this ambiguity. We here report WFC3 spectroscopy of the giant planets HD209458b and XO-1b in transit, using spatial scanning mode for maximum photon-collecting efficiency. We introduce an analysis technique that derives the exoplanetary transmission spectrum without the necessity of explicitly decorrelating instrumental effects, and achieves nearly photon-limited precision even at the high flux levels collected in spatial scan mode. Our errors are within 6-percent (XO-1) and 26-percent (HD209458b) of the photon-limit at a spectral resolving power of 70, and are better than 0.01-percent per spectral channel. Both planets exhibit water absorption of approximately 200 ppm at the water peak near 1.38 microns. Our result for XO-1b contradicts the much larger absorption derived from NICMOS spectroscopy. The weak water absorption we measure for HD209458b is reminiscent of the weakness of sodium absorption in the first transmission spectroscopy of an exoplanet atmosphere by Charbonneau et al. (2002). Model atmospheres having uniformly-distributed extra opacity of 0.012 cm^2 per gram account approximately for both our water measurement and the sodium absorption in this planet. Our results for HD209458b support the picture advocated by Pont et al. (2013) in which weak molecular absorptions are superposed on a transmission spectrum that is dominated by continuous opacity due to haze and/or dust. However, the extra opacity needed for HD209458b is grayer than for HD189733b, with a weaker Rayleigh component.

Direct Measurement of Room-Temperature Nondiffusive Thermal Transport Over Micron Distances in a Silicon Membrane

Abstract: The "textbook" phonon mean free path of heat carrying phonons in silicon at room temperature is ∼40 nm. However, a large contribution to the thermal conductivity comes from low-frequency phonons with much longer mean free paths. We present a simple experiment demonstrating that room-temperature thermal transport in Si significantly deviates from the diffusion model already at micron distances. Absorption of crossed laser pulses in a freestanding silicon membrane sets up a sinusoidal temperature profile that is monitored via diffraction of a probe laser beam. By changing the period of the thermal grating we vary the heat transport distance within the range ∼1-10 μm. At small distances, we observe a reduction in the effective thermal conductivity indicating a transition from the diffusive to the ballistic transport regime for the low-frequency part of the phonon spectrum.

In-situ ultra-sensitive infrared absorption spectroscopy of biomolecule interactions in real time with plasmonic nanoantennas

Abstract: Infrared absorption spectroscopy is a powerful biochemical analysis tool as it extracts detailed molecular structural information in a label-free fashion. Its molecular specificity renders the technique sensitive to the subtle conformational changes exhibited by proteins in response to a variety of stimuli. Yet, sensitivity limitations and the extremely strong absorption bands of liquid water severely limit infrared spectroscopy in performing kinetic measurements in biomolecules' native, aqueous environments. Here we demonstrate a plasmonic chip-based technology that overcomes these challenges, enabling the in-situ monitoring of protein and nanoparticle interactions at high sensitivity in real time, even allowing the observation of minute volumes of water displacement during binding events. Our approach leverages the plasmonic enhancement of absorption bands in conjunction with a non-classical form of internal reflection. These features not only expand the reach of infrared spectroscopy to a new class of biological interactions but also additionally enable a unique chip-based technology.

Transfer matrix method for optics in graphene layers

Abstract: A transfer matrix method is developed for optical calculations of non-interacting graphene layers. Within the framework of this method, optical properties such as reflection, transmission and absorption for single-, double- and multi-layer graphene are studied. We also apply the method to structures consisting of periodically arranged graphene layers, revealing well-defined photonic band structures and even photonic bandgaps. Finally, we discuss graphene plasmons and introduce a simple way to tune the plasmon dispersion.

Preparation of NiFe2O4 nanorod–graphene composites via an ionic liquid assisted one-step hydrothermal approach and their microwave absorbing properties

Abstract: Novel NiFe2O4 nanorod–graphene composites were synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal process in the presence of 1-propyl-3-hexadecylimidazolium bromide ([PHeIm][Br]). The structure and morphology of as-prepared hybrid materials were characterized by FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, AFM, XRD, FTIR, XPS and Raman spectroscopy. The results showed that uniform NiFe2O4 nanorods with a typical length of about 400 nm and a diameter of about 50 nm were well distributed on graphene sheets. The magnetic and electromagnetic parameters were measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer and a vector network analyzer, respectively. The obtained composites exhibited a saturation magnetization of 22.5 emu g−1 and a coercivity of 48.67 Oe at room temperature. A minimum reflection loss of −29.2 dB was observed at 16.1 GHz with a thickness of 2.0 mm, and the effective absorption frequency (RL < −10 dB) ranged from 13.6 to 18 GHz, indicating the excellent microwave absorption performance of the novel composites in the range of 13.6–18 GHz. The absorbing performance of the NiFe2O4 nanorod–graphene composites was better than that of the NiFe2O4 nanoparticle–graphene composites.

Electromagnetic Wave Absorption Properties of Reduced Graphene Oxide Modified by Maghemite Colloidal Nanoparticle Clusters

Abstract: Graphene is highly desirable as an electromagnetic wave (EM) absorber because of its large interface, high dielectric loss, and low density. Nevertheless, the conductive and electromagnetic parameters of pure graphene are too high to meet the requirement of impedance match, which results in strong reflection and weak absorption. In this paper, we report a facile solvothermal route to synthesize reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets combined with surface-modified γ-Fe2O3 colloidal nanoparticle clusters. The obtained two-dimensional hybrids exhibit a relatively low EM reflection coefficient (RC) and wide effective absorption bandwidth, which are mainly attributed to the unique microstructure of colloidal nanoparticle clusters assembled on RGO. The nanoparticle clusters have more interfaces. The interfacial polarization within nanoparticle clusters and conductivity loss of RGO plays an important role in absorbing EM power. The minimum RC reaches −59.65 dB at 10.09 GHz with a matching thickness of 2.5 mm. T...

Temperature dependent absorption cross-sections of O2–O2 collision pairs between 340 and 630 nm and at atmospherically relevant pressure

Abstract: The collisions between two oxygen molecules give rise to O4 absorption in the Earth atmosphere. O4 absorption is relevant to atmospheric transmission and Earth's radiation budget. O4 is further used as a reference gas in Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) applications to infer properties of clouds and aerosols. The O4 absorption cross section spectrum of bands centered at 343, 360, 380, 446, 477, 532, 577 and 630 nm is investigated in dry air and oxygen as a function of temperature (203–295 K), and at 820 mbar pressure. We characterize the temperature dependent O4 line shape and provide high precision O4 absorption cross section reference spectra that are suitable for atmospheric O4 measurements. The peak absorption cross-section is found to increase at lower temperatures due to a corresponding narrowing of the spectral band width, while the integrated cross-section remains constant (within <3%, the uncertainty of our measurements). The enthalpy of formation is determined to be ΔH250 = −0.12 ± 0.12 kJ mol−1, which is essentially zero, and supports previous assignments of O4 as collision induced absorption (CIA). At 203 K, van der Waals complexes (O2-dimer) contribute less than 0.14% to the O4 absorption in air. We conclude that O2-dimer is not observable in the Earth atmosphere, and as a consequence the atmospheric O4 distribution is for all practical means and purposes independent of temperature, and can be predicted with an accuracy of better than 10−3 from knowledge of the oxygen concentration profile.

Efficiency Enhancement of Organic Solar Cells by Using Shape‐Dependent Broadband Plasmonic Absorption in Metallic Nanoparticles

Abstract: It is been widely reported that plasmonic effects in metallic nanomaterials can enhance light trapping in organix solar cells (OSCs). However, typical nanoparticles (NP) of high quality (i.e., mono-dispersive) only possess a single resonant absorption peak, which inevitably limits the power conversion efficiency (PCE) enhancement to a narrow spectral range. Broadband plasmonic absorption is obviously highly desirable. In this paper, a combination of Ag nanomaterials of different shapes, including nanoparticles and nanoprisms, is proposed for this purpose. The nanomaterials are synthesized using a simple wet chemical method. Theoretical and experimental studies show that the origin of the observed PCE enhancement is the simultaneous excitation of many plasmonic low- and high-order resonances modes, which are material-, shape-, size-, and polarization-dependent. Particularly for the Ag nanoprisms studied here, the high-order resonances result in higher contribution than low-order resonances to the absorption enhancement of OSCs through an improved overlap with the active material absorption spectrum. With the incorporation of the mixed nanomaterials into the active layer, a wide-band absorption improvement is demonstrated and the short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) improves by 17.91%. Finally, PCE is enhanced by 19.44% as compared to pre-optimized control OSCs. These results suggest a new approach to achieve higher overall enhancement through improving broadband absorption.

Dynamic photo-switching in metal-organic frameworks as a route to low-energy carbon dioxide capture and release.

Abstract: For post-combustion carbon dioxide capture technology to realize widespread viability, the energy costs must be drastically reduced. Current adsorbent technologies that rely on pressure, temperature, or vacuum swings consume as much as 40% of the production capacity of a power plant, most of which is associated with the liberation of CO2 from the capture medium. Ultimately this penalty, or parasitic energy load, must be brought closer to the thermodynamic minimum of about 4% to avoid prohibitive cost increases. Given that the triggers for release of adsorbed carbon dioxide, such as vacuum and heating, are so energy intensive, 3] requiring energy from the power plant, there is strong motivation to develop new release triggers that do not require extra energy from the plant, using renewable energy sources such as the sun. In conjunction with this, adsorbents with maximum gas sorption efficiency can further reduce the costs compared to the conventional energy-intensive CO2 gas separation process. Light, and in particular concentrated sunlight, is an extremely attractive stimulus for triggering CO2 release. If used with an adsorbent material that strongly absorbs sunlight concomitant with the desorption of large amounts of CO2, it may be possible to drastically reduce the energy costs. Perhaps the most attractive adsorbent candidates are metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), because of their large adsorption capacities, and the potential for incorporation of light-responsive organic groups within the pore structure. MOFs are an important class of 3D crystalline porous materials comprised of metal centers and organic ligands, joined periodically to establish a crystalline porous array. The large internal surface areas can be used to adsorb unprecedented quantities of gases, with particular interest in hydrogen, methane, 8] and carbon dioxide emergent. 7b,h,9] Methods for the incorporation of light-responsive groups within MOFs include the use of pendant groups pointing into the pores, and filling of pores with light-responsive guest molecules. The responsive groups within these materials may then alter their conformation when exposed to filtered light which results in a change in adsorption capacity, as reported thus far for static conditions. The responsive groups within these MOFs can be statically set to one position or another. For use in photoswing carbon dioxide capture, MOFs that can respond dynamically, or to the broadband radiation found in sunlight whilst loaded with adsorbed gas, are ideal. This will increase the speed of operation and lower the energy costs (see Figure 1)

Direct Measurement of Room-Temperature Nondiffusive Thermal Transport Over Micron Distances in a Silicon Membrane

Abstract: The "textbook" phonon mean free path of heat carrying phonons in silicon at room temperature is ∼40 nm. However, a large contribution to the thermal conductivity comes from low-frequency phonons with much longer mean free paths. We present a simple experiment demonstrating that room-temperature thermal transport in Si significantly deviates from the diffusion model already at micron distances. Absorption of crossed laser pulses in a freestanding silicon membrane sets up a sinusoidal temperature profile that is monitored via diffraction of a probe laser beam. By changing the period of the thermal grating we vary the heat transport distance within the range ∼1-10 μm. At small distances, we observe a reduction in the effective thermal conductivity indicating a transition from the diffusive to the ballistic transport regime for the low-frequency part of the phonon spectrum.

On the attribution of black and brown carbon light absorption using the Ångström exponent

Abstract: . The absorption Angstrom exponent (AAE) of externally mixed black carbon (BCExt), or BC internally mixed with non-absorbing material (BCInt), is often used to determine the contribution of brown carbon (BrC) light absorption at short visible wavelengths. This attribution method contains assumptions with uncertainties that have not been formally assessed. We show that the potential range of AAE for BCExt (or BCInt) in the atmosphere can reasonably lead to +7% to −22% uncertainty in BCExt (or BCInt) absorption at short wavelengths derived from measurements made at longer wavelengths, where BrC is assumed not to absorb light. These uncertainties propagate to errors in the attributed absorption of BrC. For uncertainty in attributed BrC absorption to be ≤ ± 33%, 23% to 41% of total absorption must be sourced from BrC. These uncertainties would be larger if absorption by dust were also to be considered due to additional AAE assumptions. For data collected during a biomass-burning event, the mean difference between measured and AAE attributed BrC absorption was found to be 34% – an additional uncertainty in addition to the theoretical uncertainties presented. In light of the potential for introducing significant and poorly constrained errors, we caution against the universal application of the AAE method for attributing BrC absorption.

Singlet exciton fission photovoltaics.

Abstract: Singlet exciton fission, a process that generates two excitons from a single photon, is perhaps the most efficient of the various multiexciton-generation processes studied to date, offering the potential to increase the efficiency of solar devices. But its unique characteristic, splitting a photogenerated singlet exciton into two dark triplet states, means that the empty absorption region between the singlet and triplet excitons must be filled by adding another material that captures low-energy photons. This has required the development of specialized device architectures.In this Account, we review work to develop devices that harness the theoretical benefits of singlet exciton fission. First, we discuss singlet fission in the archetypal material, pentacene. Pentacene-based photovoltaic devices typically show high external and internal quantum efficiencies. They have enabled researchers to characterize fission, including yield and the impact of competing loss processes, within functional devices. We revie...

Strong Light-Matter Interactions in Heterostructures of Atomically Thin Films.

Abstract: Atomically thin graphene/WS2/graphene heterostructures exhibit enhanced light—matter interactions, leading to enhanced photon absorption and electron—hole creation.

Size-resolved measurements of brown carbon in water and methanol extracts and estimates of their contribution to ambient fine-particle light absorption

Abstract: . Light absorbing organic carbon, often called brown carbon, has the potential to significantly contribute to the visible light-absorption budget, particularly at shorter wavelengths. Currently, the relative contributions of particulate brown carbon to light absorption, as well as the sources of brown carbon, are poorly understood. With this in mind size-resolved direct measurements of brown carbon were made at both urban (Atlanta), and rural (Yorkville) sites in Georgia. Measurements in Atlanta were made at both a representative urban site and a road-side site adjacent to a main highway. Fine particle absorption was measured with a multi-angle absorption photometer (MAAP) and seven-wavelength Aethalometer, and brown carbon absorption was estimated based on Mie calculations using direct size-resolved measurements of chromophores in solvents. Size-resolved samples were collected using a cascade impactor and analyzed for water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), and solution light-absorption spectra of water and methanol extracts. Methanol extracts were more light-absorbing than water extracts for all size ranges and wavelengths. Absorption refractive indices of the organic extracts were calculated from solution measurements for a range of wavelengths and used with Mie theory to predict the light absorption by fine particles comprised of these components, under the assumption that brown carbon and other aerosol components were externally mixed. For all three sites, chromophores were predominately in the accumulation mode with an aerodynamic mean diameter of 0.5 μm, an optically effective size range resulting in predicted particle light absorption being a factor of 2 higher than bulk solution absorption. Mie-predicted brown carbon absorption at 350 nm contributed a significant fraction (20 to 40%) relative to total light absorption, with the highest contributions at the rural site where organic to elemental carbon ratios were highest. Brown carbon absorption, however, was highest by the roadside site due to vehicle emissions. The direct size-resolved measurement of brown carbon in solution definitively shows that it is present and optically important in the near-UV range in both a rural and urban environment during the summer when biomass burning emissions are low. These results allow estimates of brown carbon aerosol absorption from direct measurements of chromophores in aerosol extracts.

An ultrathin and broadband metamaterial absorber using multi-layer structures

Abstract: An ultrathin and broadband absorber is investigated in this paper. The metamaterial absorber is composed of a periodic array of loop-dielectric multilayered structure. By tuning the scale factor of the loop and the height of every layer, a desirable refractive index dispersion spectrum is realized, which is the reason to realize a successive anti-reflection in a wide frequency range. The interference mechanism and resonance absorption are identified through analytical derivation and numerical simulations. Numerical results show that the absorption at normal incidence is above 90% in the frequency range of 8.37–21 GHz. Moreover, the structure has a thickness of 3.65 mm (only 0.10λ to 0.26λ at the lowest and highest frequencies, respectively). The explanation to the physical mechanism of the metamaterial absorber is presented and verified.

Excellent microwave absorption property of Graphene-coated Fe nanocomposites.

Abstract: Graphene has evoked extensive interests for its abundant physical properties and potential applications. It is reported that the interfacial electronic interaction between metal and graphene would give rise to charge transfer and change the electronic properties of graphene, leading to some novel electrical and magnetic properties in metal-graphene heterostructure. In addition, large specific surface area, low density and high chemical stability make graphene act as an ideal coating material. Taking full advantage of the aforementioned features of graphene, we synthesized graphene-coated Fe nanocomposites for the first time and investigated their microwave absorption properties. Due to the charge transfer at Fe-graphene interface in Fe/G, the nanocomposites show distinct dielectric properties, which result in excellent microwave absorption performance in a wide frequency range. This work provides a novel approach for exploring high-performance microwave absorption material as well as expands the application field of graphene-based materials.

Choosing a Functional for Computing Absorption and Fluorescence Band Shapes with TD-DFT

Abstract: The band shapes corresponding to both the absorption and emission spectra of a set of 20 representative conjugated molecules, including recently synthesized structures, have been simulated with a Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory model including diffuse atomic orbitals and accounting for bulk solvent effects. Six hybrid functionals, including two range-separated hybrids (B3LYP, PBE0, M06, M06-2X, CAM-B3LYP, and LC-PBE) have been assessed in light of the experimental band shapes obtained for these conjugated compounds. Basis set and integration grid effects have also been evaluated. It turned out that all tested functionals but LC-PBE reproduce the main experimental features for both absorption and fluorescence, though the average errors are significantly larger for the latter phenomena. No single functional stands out as the most accurate for all aspects, but B3LYP yields the smallest mean absolute deviation. On the other hand, M06-2X could be a valuable compromise for excited-states as it reproduc...

Nondestructive Detection of an Optical Photon

Abstract: All optical detectors to date annihilate photons upon detection, thus excluding repeated measurements. Here, we demonstrate a robust photon detection scheme that does not rely on absorption. Instead, an incoming photon is reflected from an optical resonator containing a single atom prepared in a superposition of two states. The reflection toggles the superposition phase, which is then measured to trace the photon. Characterizing the device with faint laser pulses, a single-photon detection efficiency of 74% and a survival probability of 66% are achieved. The efficiency can be further increased by observing the photon repeatedly. The large single-photon nonlinearity of the experiment should enable the development of photonic quantum gates and the preparation of exotic quantum states of light.