Angle Sensitive Optical Sensor for Light Source Tracker Miniaturization

An angle sensitive optical sensor without conventional optics is presented in this article. The reported device omits the need for adding 3-D optics in postprocessing by monolithic integration of complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor compatible diffraction grating layers, which cuts down the fabrication costs and allows for miniaturization...

A study on the optics of copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) solar cells with ultra-thin absorber layers

We present a systematic study of the effect of variation of the zinc oxide (ZnO) and copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) layer thickness on the absorption characteristics of CIGS solar cells using a simulation program based on finite element method (FEM). We show that the absorption in the CIGS layer does not decrease monotonically with...

Beam and phase distributions of a terahertz quantum cascade wire laser

We report on both measurements and simulations of the beam profile and wavefront of a single-mode, 3.5?THz quantum cascade wire laser, incorporating a lateral corrugated metal-metal waveguide, 3rd-order distributed feedback grating. The intrinsic wavefront was measured by using a Hartmann wavefront sensor (HWS) without any optical components...

Light management in thin-film silicon solar cells

Solar energy can fulfil mankind’s energy needs and secure a more balanced distribution of primary sources of energy. Wafer-based and thin-film silicon solar cells dominate todays’ photovoltaic market because silicon is a non-toxic and abundant material and high conversion efficiencies are achieved with silicon-based solar cells. To stay...

High-resolution microspectrometer with an aberration-correcting planar grating

A concept for a highly miniaturized spectrometer featuring a two-component design is presented. The first component is a planar chip that integrates an input slit and aberration-correcting diffraction grating with an image sensor and is fabricated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies. Due to the fabrication in a simple MEMS...

Characterization of the diffraction efficiency of polymer-liquid-crystal-polymer-slices gratings at all incidence angles

Recently, a novel holographic diffraction grating made of polymer slices alternated to homogeneous films of nematic liquid crystal (POLICRYPS) was realized. We study the optical performance of the POLICRYPS gratings by both numerical simulations and experiments. Characterization of the grating at normal and conical reading mount are performed....

Optimal implementation of a microspectrometer based on a single flat diffraction grating

An analytical model has been developed and applied to explore the limits in the design of a highly miniaturized planar optical microspectrometer based on an imaging diffraction grating. This design tool has been validated as providing the smallest possible dimensions while maintaining acceptable spectral resolution. The resulting planar...

Simulations of birefringent gratings as polarizing color separator in backlight for flat-panel displays

A color and polarization separating backlight can be obtained by using a surface-relief grating made of birefringent material as an outcoupling structure on top of the lightguide. A rigorous finite element diffraction model was applied to study the polarization effect of such a grating. The diffraction of plane waves by the anisotropic grating...

Finite-element model for phase-change recording

The finite-element method is applied to model phase-change recording in a grooved recording stack. A rigorous model for the scattering of a three-dimensional focused spot by a one-dimensional periodic grating is used to determine the absorbed light in a three-dimensional region inside the phase-change layer. The optical model is combined with a...

Field analysis of integrated-optical gratings