Nanoscale investigation of polarization-dependent light coupling to individual waveguide modes of nanophotonic thin-film solar cells

Nanophotonic light management concepts are essential building blocks of advance photovoltaic technologies. These concepts make use of light coupling to waveguide modes supported by the photoactive absorber material of the solar cell. In this contribution, we will explain on the basis of our recently published results the development of scanning near field optical microscopy as a new method that enables the direct nanoscale observation of light coupling to an individual waveguide mode in a nanophotonic thin-film silicon solar cell. Beyond this, we present a new detailed study based on this new method on the polarization dependence of the light coupling to an individual waveguide mode.