Design of Multilayer Optical Media: Organic Photovoltaics and Optical Data Storage

The optical properties of one-dimensional layered materials provides a wealth of interesting phenomena. Fine control of the optical properties of the constituent materials and the thicknesses of each layer allows for sophisticated design of useful optical devices. Optical devices based on one-dimensional layered structures may have significant contributions in solving some of society's greatest problems in the coming century.The first of these challenges is to transition from fossil fuel energy generation to low-carbon, renewable energy replacements. Among the many proposed solutions is solar photovoltaic energy capture. In solar photovoltaics, light is converted to electric current by generating charge carriers in semiconductors. These charge carriers are then moved to opposing electrodes generating an electric current. These components: semiconductor, electrodes, and a supporting substrate form a layered optical system that can be studied.The interaction between absorbing material and the weak optical cavity formed by these electrodes causes enhanced absorption. By carefully designing the layer thicknesses, the absorption in the semiconductor layer can be tuned. In addition, the total absorbed solar photons vary as functions of the layer thicknesses requiring optimization by calculation and experiment.The second challenge is to store digital data for several decades at low-cost and with minimal use of power-consuming magnetic hard drive disks. Using scalable polymer processing techniques, it is possible to fabricate a multilayer optical data storage medium that satisfies the need for low-cost, scalable storage capacity. With a large number of physical layers, only small changes are needed to optical read/write hardware avoiding the pitfalls encountered with holographic and other exotic optical data storage technologies. The design and optimization of solar photovoltaic and optical data storage devices is considered. In addition, characterization of the optical, thermal, and electronic properties of these devices and their constituent materials is presented.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics

Grantor dc:publisher

Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Valle, Brent

Contributors dc:contributor

• Singer, Kenneth

• Physics
• Optics
• photovoltaics
• organic photovoltaics
• optical data storage
• optical interference
• optical transfer matrix
• cavity effects

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1364917393

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:case1364917393