Enhanced electron photoemission by collective lattice resonances in plasmonic nanoparticle-array photodetectors and solar cells

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that collective lattice resonances in plasmonic nanoparticle arrays significantly boost photoelectron emission, leading to improved photodetectors and solar cells with enhanced efficiency and spectral selectivity.

Contribution

It introduces the use of collective lattice resonances to amplify photoemission in plasmonic devices, a novel approach for enhancing photodetector and solar cell performance.

Findings

Stronger local field enhancement due to lattice resonances.

Significant increase in photocurrent compared to individual particle excitations.

Potential for designing tunable, highly selective photodetectors and more efficient solar cells.

Abstract

We propose to use collective lattice resonances in plasmonic nanoparticle arrays to enhance photoelectron emission in Schottky-barrier photodetectors and solar cells. We show that the interaction of lattice resonances (the Rayleigh anomaly) and individual particle excitations (localized surface plasmon resonances) leads to stronger local field enhancement and significant increase of the photocurrent compared to the case when only individual particle excitations are present. The results can be used to design new photodetectors with highly selective, tunable spectral response, able to detect photons with the energy below the semiconductor bandgap, and to develop solar cells with increased efficiency.