8,322 research outputs found
Plasmonic Nanostructure Design for Efficient Light Coupling into Solar Cells
We demonstrate that subwavelength scatterers can couple sunlight into guided modes in thin film Si and GaAs plasmonic solar cells whose back interface is coated with a corrugated metal film. Using numerical simulations, we find that incoupling of sunlight is remarkably insensitive to incident angle, and that the spectral features of the coupling efficiency originate from several different resonant phenomena. The incoupling cross section can be spectrally tuned and enhanced through modification of the scatterer shape, semiconductor film thickness, and materials choice. We demonstrate that, for example, a single 100 nm wide groove under a 200 nm Si thin film can enhance absorption by a factor of 2.5 over a 10 μm area for the portion of the solar spectrum near the Si band gap. These findings show promise for the design of ultrathin solar cells that exhibit enhanced absorption
Solid particle erosion and viscoelastic properties of thermoplastic polyurethanes
The wear resistance of several thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) having different chemical nature and micronscale
arrangement of the hard and soft segments has been investigated by means of erosion and abrasion tests. The goal was
correlating the erosion performances of the materials to their macroscopic mechanical properties. Unlike conventional tests,
such as hardness and tensile measurements, viscoelastic analysis proved to be a valuable tool to study the erosion resistance
of TPUs. In particular, a strict correlation was found between the erosion rate and the high-frequency (~10^7 Hz) loss modulus.
The latter reflects the actual ability of TPU to dissipate the impact energy of the erodent particles
Fingerprinting dark energy
Dark energy perturbations are normally either neglected or else included in a
purely numerical way, obscuring their dependence on underlying parameters like
the equation of state or the sound speed. However, while many different
explanations for the dark energy can have the same equation of state, they
usually differ in their perturbations so that these provide a fingerprint for
distinguishing between different models with the same equation of state. In
this paper we derive simple yet accurate approximations that are able to
characterize a specific class of models (encompassing most scalar-field models)
which is often generically called "dark energy". We then use the approximate
solutions to look at the impact of the dark energy perturbations on the dark
matter power spectrum and on the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect in the cosmic
microwave background radiation.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, minor changes to match published versio
Experimental study of laser detected magnetic resonance based on atomic alignment
We present an experimental study of the spectra produced by
optical/radio-frequency double resonance in which resonant linearly polarized
laser light is used in the optical pumping and detection processes. We show
that the experimental spectra obtained for cesium are in excellent agreement
with a very general theoretical model developed in our group and we investigate
the limitations of this model. Finally, the results are discussed in view of
their use in the study of relaxation processes in aligned alkali vapors.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. A. Related to
physics/060523
Towards a direct measurement of vacuum magnetic birefringence: PVLAS achievements
Nonlinear effects in vacuum have been predicted but never observed yet
directly. The PVLAS collaboration has long been working on an apparatus aimed
at detecting such effects by measuring vacuum magnetic birefringence.
Unfortunately the sensitivity has been affected by unaccounted noise and
systematics since the beginning. A new small prototype ellipsometer has been
designed and characterized at the Department of Physics of the University of
Ferrara, Italy entirely mounted on a single seismically isolated optical bench.
With a finesse F = 414000 and a cavity length L = 0.5 m we have reached the
predicted sensitivity of psi = 2x10^-8 1/sqrt(Hz) given the laser power at the
output of the ellipsomenter of P = 24 mW. This record result demonstrates the
feasibility of reaching such sensitivities and opens the way to designing a
dedicated apparatus for a first detection of vacuum magnetic birefringence
- …