Chapters authored
Plasmonic Resonances and Their Application to Thin-Film Solar Cell
This chapter furnishes the plasmonic properties of metal nanostructure and its application to thin-film solar cell. Plasmonics is an emerging branch of nanooptics where light metal interaction in subwavelength domain is studied. Metal supports surface plasmon resonance that has tunable signature, which depends on the morphology as well as surrounding media. These plasmonic resonances can be tuned in a broader range of solar spectra by changing several parameters such as size, shape and medium. Moreover, metals show scattering properties that could be utilized to enhance optical path length of photon inside the thin film of solar device. The chapter mainly focusses on the study of plasmonic resonance of smaller- and larger-sized metal nanoparticle using semi-analytical as well as numerical approach. For the estimation of optical properties like extinction spectrum and field profile of larger-sized nanoparticle, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is used. The field distribution in both silver and gold nanoparticle cases has been plotted in ‘on’ resonance condition, which has a broader range of applications.
Part of the book: Emerging Solar Energy Materials
A Perspective on Plasmonics within and beyond the Electrostatic Approximation
Plasmonic is an emerging branch of nanophotonics wherein the electromagnetic properties of nanoparticles are studied for variety of applications. The optics of nanoparticles is studied in terms of surface plasmon resonances and optical cross section. Initially the first principle approach has been used to study the plasmonic fundamentals known as electrostatic approach. Under this approach, various parameters are taken into account to observe the electromagnetic properties of plasmonic nanogeometries. This electrostatic model is only used to analyze the optical signature of smaller size plasmonic geometries. Therefore, for the estimation of optical properties of larger size nanoparticle numerical model (Discrete Dipole Approximation) has been used. The observed surface plasmon resonances could be useful in sensing field, SERS signal detection and thin film solar cell application.
Part of the book: Plasmonics