title: Near-field electromagnetic theory for thin solar cells.
abstract: Current methods for evaluating solar cell efficiencies cannot be applied to low-dimensional structures where phenomena from the realm of near-field optics prevail. We present a theoretical approach to analyze solar cell performance by allowing rigorous electromagnetic calculations of the emission rate using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Our approach shows the direct quantification of the voltage, current, and efficiency of low-dimensional solar cells. This approach is demonstrated by calculating the voltage and the efficiency of a GaAs slab solar cell for thicknesses from several microns down to a few nanometers. This example highlights the ability of the proposed approach to capture the role of optical near-field effects in solar cell performance.
authors.affiliation: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC), University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niv
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gharghi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gladden
authors.forename: O D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang