The Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)(2)Mo interface in thin-film solar cells has been investigated by surface-sensitive photoelectron spectroscopy, bulk-sensitive x-ray emission spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. It is possible to access this deeply buried interface by using a suitable lift-off technique, which allows us to investigate the back side of the absorber layer as well as the front side of the...

We report stable, passive, continuous-wave (CW) mode-locking of a compact diode-pumped waveguide Nd:YAG laser with a single-layer graphene saturable absorber. The depressed cladding waveguide in the Nd:YAG crystal is fabricated with an ultrafast laser inscription method. The saturable absorber is formed by direct deposition of CVD single-layer graphene on the output coupler. The few millimeter-...

We present a theory of perfect absorption in a bilayer model composed of a mu-near-zero (MNZ) metamaterial (MM) absorbing layer on a metallic substrate. Our analytical solutions reveal that a MM layer with a large purely imaginary permeability and a moderate permittivity backed by a metallic plane has a zero reflection at normal incidence when the thickness is ultrathin. The impedance-mismatche...

In this paper, few-layer porous graphene is integrated onto the surface of a metasurface layer to provide a uniform static electric field to efficiently control liquid crystal, thereby enabling flexible metamaterial designs. We demonstrate a tunable cross-shaped metamaterial absorber with different arm lengths driven by this combined metasurface and graphene electrode. The resulting absorber su...

We demonstrate a low-cost uncooled terahertz (THz) imager fabricated in a standard 180 nm CMOS process. The imager is composed of a broadband THz metamaterial absorber coupled with a diode microbolometer sensor where the pn junction is used as a temperature sensitive device. The metamaterial absorber array is integrated in the top metallic layers of a six metal layer process allowing for comple...

Saturable absorber mirrors (SAMs) are grown by low-temperature solid-source molecular beam epitaxy. The nonlinear absorber layer consists of one InGaAs quantum well. The devices have response times shorter than 10 ps and small non-saturable losses (less than 0.3%). SAMs with modulation depths between 0.6% and 2.0% were used to mode lock a Yb:KYW laser at around 1040 nm. The minimum achievable p...

We report a naked eye refractive index sensor with a visible metamaterial absorber. The visible metamaterial absorber consisting of a silver dendritic/dielectric/metal structure shows multiple absorption peaks. By incorporating a gain material (rhodamine B) into the dielectric layer, the maximal magnitude of the absorption peak can be improved by about 30%. As the metamaterial absorber is sensi...

Liquid phase deposition (LPD), using CdSO(4) and N,N-dimethyl selenourea, has been used to grow CdSe absorber layer onto single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) derived back contact substrates. The nanotubes are imbedded in, and penetrate into, the CdSe absorber layer for the goal of enhancing excition dissociation and carrier transport. The Cd : Se film stoichiometry varied between 1 : 1.7 to 1 :...

Planar superstrate CuInS2 (CIS) solar cell devices are fabricated using totally solution-processed deposition methods. A titanium dioxide blocking layer and an In2S3 buffer layer are deposited by the spray pyrolysis method. A CIS2 absorber layer is deposited by the spin coating method using CIS ink prepared by a 1-butylamine solvent-based solution at room temperature. To obtain optimum annealin...

We report a broadband polarization-independent perfect absorber with wide-angle near unity absorbance in the visible regime. Our structure is composed of an array of thin Au squares separated from a continuous Au film by a phase change material (Ge2Sb2Te5) layer. It shows that the near perfect absorbance is flat and broad over a wide-angle incidence up to 80° for either transverse electric or m...