Ultra-broadband omnidirectional-distributed Bragg-reflectors for near-IR to longwave-IR thermophotovoltaic devices

Zunaid Omair; Varun Menon; Patrick Oduor; Kwong-Kit Choi; Achyut K. Dutta

doi:10.1117/12.2623776

22 June 2022 Ultra-broadband omnidirectional-distributed Bragg-reflectors for near-IR to longwave-IR thermophotovoltaic devices

Zunaid Omair, Varun Menon, Patrick Oduor, Kwong-Kit Choi, Achyut K. Dutta

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume PC12090, Energy Harvesting and Storage: Materials, Devices, and Applications XII; PC1209006 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2623776
Event: SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 2022, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

High performance broadband Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBRs) have become instrumental in the design of high efficiency Thermophotovoltaic devices, improving efficiency by redirecting parasitic photon loss during conversion towards the device for regenerating power. Broadband Bragg Reflectors designed to reflect in the 3-5 micron, 3-12 micron, and 1-12 micron infrared ranges are of crucial importance in such applications to maximize regeneration efficiency in TPV devices, as most parasitic photons fall in these ranges under typical operating temperatures. Additionally, omnidirectional capabilities further improve regeneration efficiency by absorbing parasitic photons at large angles of incidence. In this work, we present a novel inverse design transfer matrix optimization algorithm for designing variable layer thickness broadband DBRs for arbitrary wavelength ranges and angles of incidence, and we showcase the resulting ultra-high reflection DBRs designed with our algorithm, specifically for the 1-12μm IR range. We demonstrate that our DBRs provide very significant increases in average reflection over the IR ranges of interest as compared to state-of-the-art reflective coatings, even at large angles of incidence, and are also optimized to be considerably thinner than quarter wavelength and other state of the art DBRs with comparable reflection spectra. As such, the DBRs designed with our inverse design algorithm have significant applications in the design of very high efficiency TPV systems, while also being thin enough to embed onto devices or windows, and are also easy to fabricate due to their simple multilayer 1-D structure.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Zunaid Omair, Varun Menon, Patrick Oduor, Kwong-Kit Choi, and Achyut K. Dutta "Ultra-broadband omnidirectional-distributed Bragg-reflectors for near-IR to longwave-IR thermophotovoltaic devices", Proc. SPIE PC12090, Energy Harvesting and Storage: Materials, Devices, and Applications XII, PC1209006 (22 June 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2623776

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