Many conventional optoelectronic devices consist of thin, stacked films of metals and semiconductors. In this presentation, I will demonstrate how one can improve the performance of such devices by nano-structuring the constituent layers at length scales below the wavelength of light. The resulting metafilms and metasurfaces offer opportunities to dramatically modify the optical transmission, absorption, reflection, and refraction properties of device layers. This is accomplished by encoding the optical response of nanoscale resonant building blocks into the effective properties of the films and surfaces. To illustrate these points, I will show how nanopatterned metal and semiconductor layers may be used to enhance the performance of solar cells, photodetectors, and enable new imaging technologies. I will also demonstrate how the use of active nanoscale building blocks can facilitate the creation of active metafilm devices.

Device applications of metafilms

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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