Tightly focused laser beams can trap micro- and nanoparticles suspended in liquids in their focal spots enabling different functionalities including 3D manipulations and assembling. Here, we report on remarkably strong liquid-liquid phase separation and crystallization experiments in para-nitroaniline dissolved in 1,4-dioxane. For optical trapping of para-nitroaniline we used low-power, weakly ...

The surface of thin-film solar cells can be tailored with photonic nanostructures to allow light trapping in the absorbing medium. This in turn increases the optical thickness of the film and thus enhances their absorption. Such a coherent light trapping is generally accomplished with deterministic photonic architectures. Here, we experimentally explore the use of a different nanostructure, a d...

Imprinted silver nanovoid arrays are investigated via angle-resolved reflectometry to demonstrate their suitability for plasmonic light trapping. Both wavelength- and subwavelength-scale nanovoids are imprinted into standard solar cell architectures to achieve nanostructured metallic electrodes which provide enhanced absorption for improving solar cell performance. The technique is versatile, l...

In this paper, we examine the optical loss mechanisms and mitigation strategies in classical photovoltaic light trapping structures consisting of diffractive gratings integrated with a backside reflector, which couple normal incident solar radiation into guided modes in solar cells to enhance optical absorption. Parasitic absorption from metal or dielectric backside reflectors is identified to ...

We demonstrate trapping and rotation of two mesoscopic particles in vacuum using a spatial-light-modulator-based approach to trap more than one particle, induce controlled rotation of individual particles, and mediate interparticle separation. By trapping and rotating two vaterite particles, we observe intensity modulation of the scattered light at the sum and difference frequencies with respec...

Pulsed lasers are used for simultaneous single-beam three-dimensional optical trapping of and second-harmonic generation in 50-100-nm nonlinear particles. The emission power of the frequency-doubled light, the trapping stability, and the particle degradation are investigated for KTP and LiNbO(3) particles trapped by 25-kHz-repetition-rate Q-switched Nd:YAG and 76-MHz mode-locked Ti:sapphire l a...

Efficient trapping of the light in a photon absorber or a photodetector can improve its performance and reduce its cost. In this paper we investigate two designs for light-trapping in application to infrared absorption. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that nonabsorptive pyramids either located on top of an absorbing film or having embedded absorbing rods can efficiently enhance the absorp...

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A dynamic array of dark optical traps is generated for simultaneous trapping and arbitrary manipulation of multiple low-index microstructures. The dynamic intensity patterns forming the dark optical trap arrays are generated using a nearly loss-less phase-to-intensity conversion of a phase-encoded coherent light source. Two-dimensional input phase distributions corresponding to the trapping pat...

We theoretically investigate the light-trapping properties of one- and two-dimensional periodic patterns etched on the front surface of c-Si and a-Si thin film solar cells with a silver back reflector and an anti-reflection coating. For each active material and configuration, absorbance A and short-circuit current density Jsc are calculated by means of rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA), for...