Subwavelength metallic slit arrays have been shown to exhibit extraordinary optical transmission, whereby tunnelling surface plasmonic waves constructively interfere to create large forward light propagation. The intricate balancing needed for this interference to occur allows for resonant transmission to be highly sensitive to changes in the environment. Here we demonstrate that extraordinary optical transmission resonance can be coupled to electrostatically tunable graphene plasmonic ribbons to create electrostatic modulation of mid-infrared light. Absorption in graphene plasmonic ribbons situated inside metallic slits can efficiently block the coupling channel for resonant transmission, leading to a suppression of transmission. Full-wave simulations predict a transmission modulation of 95.7% via this mechanism. Experimental measurements reveal a modulation efficiency of 28.6% in transmission at 1,397 cm−1, corresponding to a 2.67-fold improvement over transmission without a metallic slit array. This work paves the way for enhancing light modulation in graphene plasmonics by employing noble metal plasmonic structures.

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Excitonic effects account for a fundamental photoconversion and charge transport mechanism in Cu2O; hence, the universally adopted “free carrier” model substantially underestimates the photovoltaic efficiency for such devices. The quasi-equilibrium branching ratio between excitons and free carriers in Cu2O indicates that up to 28% of photogenerated carriers during photovoltaic operation are excitons. These large exciton densities were directly observed in photoluminescence and spectral response measurements. The results of a device physics simulation using a model that includes excitonic effects agree well with experimentally measured current–voltage characteristics of Cu2O-based photovoltaics. In the case of Cu2O, the free carrier model underestimates the efficiency of a Cu2O solar cell by as much as 1.9 absolute percent at room temperature.

The crystallographic orientation of a metal affects its surface energy and structure, and has profound implications for surface chemical reactions and interface engineering, which are important in areas ranging from optoelectronic device fabrication to catalysis. However, it can be very difficult and expensive to manufacture, orient, and cut single crystal metals along different crystallographic orientations, especially in the case of precious metals. One approach is to grow thin metal films epitaxially on dielectric substrates. In this work, we report on growth of Pt and Au films on MgO single crystal substrates of (100) and (110) surface orientation for use as epitaxial templates for thin film photovoltaic devices. We develop bias-assisted sputtering for deposition of oriented Pt and Au films with sub-nanometer roughness. We show that biasing the substrate decreases the substrate temperature necessary to achieve epitaxial orientation, with temperature reduction from 600 to 350 °C for Au, and from 750 to 550 °C for Pt, without use of transition metal seed layers. In addition, this temperature can be further reduced by reducing the growth rate. Biased deposition with varying substrate bias power and working pressure also enables control of the film morphology and surface roughness.