Gentle momentum turns pure silicon from an oblique to a direct bandgap semiconductor

UC Irvine-led analysis reveals that the optical properties of supplies may be dramatically enhanced—not by altering the supplies themselves, however by giving the sunshine new properties.

The researchers demonstrated that by manipulating the momentum of incoming photons, they might basically change how gentle interacts with matter. One placing instance from their findings is that the optical properties of pure silicon, a broadly used and important semiconductor, may be enhanced by an astonishing 4 orders of magnitude.

This breakthrough holds nice promise to rework photo voltaic vitality conversion and optoelectronics at giant. The research, featured as the duvet story of the September problem of ACS Nano, was performed in collaboration with Kazan Federal College and Tel Aviv College.

“On this research, we problem the standard perception that light-matter interactions are solely decided by the fabric,” stated Dmitry Fishman, senior writer and adjunct professor of chemistry. “By giving gentle new properties, we are able to basically reshape the way it interacts with matter.

“In consequence, current or optically ‘underappreciated’ supplies can obtain capabilities we by no means thought potential. It is like waving a magic wand—reasonably than designing new supplies, we improve the properties of current ones just by modifying the incoming gentle.”

“This photonic phenomenon stems immediately from the Heisenberg uncertainty precept,” stated Eric Potma, co-author and professor of chemistry. “When gentle is confined to scales smaller than just a few nanometers, its momentum distribution widens. The momentum improve is so substantial, that it surpasses that of free-space photons by an element of a thousand, making it akin to the electron momenta in supplies.”

Ara Apkarian, a distinguished professor of chemistry, expanded on this, saying, “This phenomenon basically modifications how gentle interacts with matter. Historically, textbooks train us about vertical optical transitions, the place a fabric absorbs gentle with the photon altering solely the electron’s vitality state.

“Nevertheless, momentum-enhanced photons can change each the vitality and momentum states of electrons, unlocking new transition pathways we hadn’t thought of earlier than. Figuratively talking, we are able to ’tilt the textbook’ as these photons allow diagonal transitions. This dramatically impacts a fabric’s potential to soak up or emit gentle.”

Fishman continued, “Take silicon, for instance—the second most plentiful ingredient in Earth’s crust and the spine of recent electronics. Regardless of its widespread use, silicon is a poor absorber of sunshine, which has lengthy restricted its effectivity in units like photo voltaic panels.

“It is because silicon is an oblique semiconductor, that means it depends on phonons (the lattice vibrations) to allow digital transitions. The physics of sunshine absorption in silicon is such that whereas a photon modifications the electron’s vitality state, a phonon is concurrently wanted to alter the electron’s momentum state.

“Because the probability of a photon, phonon, and electron interacting on the identical place and time is low, silicon’s optical properties are inherently weak. This has posed a big problem for optoelectronics and has even slowed progress in photo voltaic vitality expertise.”

Potma emphasised, “With the escalating results of local weather change, it is extra pressing than ever to shift from fossil fuels to renewable vitality. Photo voltaic vitality is vital on this transition, but the industrial photo voltaic cells we depend on are falling quick.

“Silicon’s poor potential to soak up gentle means these cells require thick layers—nearly 200 micrometers of pure crystalline materials—to successfully seize daylight. This not solely drives up manufacturing prices but additionally limits effectivity as a consequence of elevated provider recombination.

“Skinny-film photo voltaic cells are broadly seen as the answer to each of those challenges. Whereas various supplies like direct bandgap semiconductors have demonstrated skinny photo voltaic cells with efficiencies exceeding 20%, these supplies are sometimes susceptible to both fast degradation or include excessive manufacturing prices, making them impractical in the mean time.”

“Guided by the promise of Si-based thin-film photovoltaics, researchers have been looking for methods to enhance gentle absorption in silicon for greater than 4 many years,” Apkarian added. “However a real breakthrough has remained elusive.”

Fishman continued, “Our method takes a radically totally different step ahead. By enabling diagonal transitions via momentum-enhanced photons, we successfully remodel pure silicon from an oblique to a direct bandgap semiconductor—with out altering the fabric itself. This results in a dramatic improve in silicon’s potential to soak up gentle, by a number of orders of magnitude.

“This implies we are able to cut back the thickness of silicon layers by the identical issue, opening the door to ultra-thin units and photo voltaic cells that would outperform present applied sciences at a fraction of the price. Furthermore, as a result of the phenomenon doesn’t require any modifications to the fabric, the method may be built-in into current fabrication applied sciences with little to no modifications.”

Apkarian concluded, “We’re simply starting to discover the big selection of phenomena related to gentle confinement on the nanoscale and past. The physics concerned is wealthy with potential for elementary and utilized discoveries. Nevertheless, the instant impression is already clear.

“Reworking silicon right into a direct bandgap semiconductor via enhanced photon momentum has the potential to revolutionize vitality conversion and optoelectronics.”

Co-authors on this research included Jovany Merham, a UC Irvine junior specialist in chemistry, Kazan Federal College researchers Sergey Kharintsev, Aleksey Noskov, Elina Battalova, and Tel Aviv College researchers Liat Katrivas and Alexander Kotlyar.