Photoconductivity in inverse silicon opals enhanced by slow photon effect: Yet another step towards optically amplified silicon photonic crystal solar cells

While silicon photonic crystals have promised revolutionary advances in the field of optical telecommunications and optical computing, it has only recently been realized that their prowess to trap and slow photons could potentially improve the efficiency of silicon solar cells. In this work, spectral responses for the electrical properties of inverse silicon opals are evaluated and show a correlation with photonic bandgaps. In particular, a sign of the enhanced photoelectric generation by the slow photon effect is observed at the edges of photonic bandgaps. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3555338]