Metallic nano-particles for trapping light
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Updated: May 14, 2026
Utilization of Plasmonic and Photonic Crystal Nanostructures for Enhanced Micro- and Nanoparticle Manipulation
Published on: September 27, 2011
Yongan Tang1, Branislav Vlahovic
1Department of Physics, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, 27707, USA. tangy@nccu.edu.
Abstract:
We study metallic nano-particles for light trapping by investigating the optical absorption efficiency of the hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film with and without metallic nano-particles on its top. The size and shape of these nano-particles are investigated as to their roles of light trapping: scattering light to the absorption medium and converting light to surface plasmons. The optical absorption enhancement in the red light region (e.g., 650nm) due to the light trapping of the metallic nano-particles is observed when a layer of metallic nano-particle array has certain structures. The investigation of the light with incident angles shows the importance of the coupling efficiency of light to surface plasmons in the metallic nano-particle light trapping. PACS: 73.20.Mf, 42.25.s, 88.40.hj.
