Novel applications for surface plasmons in photovoltaics

Recently discovered novel effects that occur when light interacts with metallic structures around its own wavelength offer a range of interesting possibilities for photovoltaics. Excitation of nanoscale metallic structures leads to oscillation of the conduction electrons, known as surface plasmons. The possible uses for surface plasmons in photovoltaics include improved absorption of light for very thin films, improved light emission for thermophotovoltaics and thermophotonics, and enhancement of the efficiency of frequency conversion materials. In this work the potential for surface plasmons to improve photovoltaic conversion efficiency is discussed and a simple technique for the fabrication of metallic nanostructures is demonstrated.