Successful Production of a Near-infrared Light Harvesting Nano-antenna

Research Press Release | June 11, 2014

  • Fig.1 A schematic illustration of aluminum nanostructure, and a scanning electron microscope photograph (The red points in the diagram are areas of induced optical field enhancement.)
    Fig.1 A schematic illustration of aluminum nanostructure, and a scanning electron microscope photograph (The red points in the diagram are areas of induced optical field enhancement.)
  • Fig.2 Wavelength dependency of aluminum nanostructure’s absorption efficiency and scattering intensity
    Fig.2 Wavelength dependency of aluminum nanostructure’s absorption efficiency and scattering intensity
Press Release
Key Points -Light harvesting nano-antenna uses the abundant element aluminum

-Outstanding light harvesting property confirmed in the near-infrared wavelength region

Overview Until now, efforts to effectively use near-infrared light in energy conversion systems such as solar cells have been unsuccessful. The research group of Prof. Hiroaki Misawa of the Research Institute for Electronic Science worked to develop an energy-converting plasmonic antenna nanostructure that uses the nanostructures of gold and other precious metals to harvest near-infrared light in a highly efficient way. Through this element-based strategy, they were able to demonstrate for the first time that a workable nano-antenna can be fabricated using not expensive precious metals like gold, but plentiful aluminum to highly and efficiently harvest the near-infrared light.
Inquiries

Hiroaki Misawa, Professor, Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University

TEL: +81-11-706-9358

FAX: +81-11-706-9359

E-mail:misawa@es.hokudai.ac.jp

Japanese

Link

アルミニウムにより近赤外光を捕集できるナノアンテナを実現
Publications  AGS Photonics (2014.5.28)

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