Abstract
Due to their excellent light collection and light trapping capabilities, random structures are often used in photovoltaic applications for benchmarking periodical photonic systems whose optical properties can be easily predicted and adjusted. Recent studies reported that working at the interface between those two concepts enables to retain the deterministic trait of periodical structures while benefiting from the broadband, omnidirectional and polarization-independent characteristics found in random systems. This approach exploits the effects arising from controlled disorder. In this communication, various ways to intentionally introduce disorder at the different levels of thin-film solar cells will be discussed. Several aspects of this rich topic, including perturbed photonic crystals, scattering layers and bio-inspired light collection structures, will be covered.
© 2015 Optical Society of America
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