Decoupling the refractive index from the electrical properties of transparent conducting oxides via periodic superlattices.
We demonstrate an alternative approach to tuning the refractive index of materials. Current methodologies for tuning the refractive index of a material often result in undesirable changes to the structural or optoelectronic properties. By artificially layering a transparent conducting oxide with a lower refractive index material the overall film retains a desirable conductivity and mobility while acting optically as an effective medium with a modified refractive index. Calculations indicate that, with our refractive index change of 0.2, a significant reduction of reflective losses could be obtained by the utilisation of these structures in optoelectronic devices. Beyond this, periodic superlattice structures present a solution to decouple physical properties where the underlying electronic interaction is governed by different length scales.
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Advanced Materials Bio-Engineering Research Centre (AMBER), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
David
D
Caffrey
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Emma
E
Norton
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|KSU-Aramco Center, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.|School of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, P. R. China.
Cormac Ó
CÓ
Coileáin
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Christopher M
CM
Smith
Institute of Solar Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 51147 Köln, Germany.
Brendan
B
Bulfin
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Leo
L
Farrell
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Advanced Materials Bio-Engineering Research Centre (AMBER), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Igor V
IV
Shvets
School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Advanced Materials Bio-Engineering Research Centre (AMBER), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Karsten
K
Fleischer