Stories of Discovery & Innovation: Trapping the Light Fantastic

New solar cell design uses advanced optics and nanotechnology to maximize performance and minimize cost. Discovery moves from lab bench to initial commercial scale-up inside a year. This work, featured in the Office of Science’s Stories of Discovery & Innovation, was supported by Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI), an EFRC led by Harry Atwater at Caltech.

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Infrared laser light (red beam) illuminates the surface of ZrSiSe and mixes with electron oscillations enabled by an atomic force microscope (silver cone), propagating light as ray-like structures that guide the light through the interior (blue zig-zag).

What If Metals Could Conduct Light?

In the unusual world of quantum materials, metals can guide light in their interiors instead of merely reflecting it.

Advanced Computing Brings Autonomous Investigations to Nanostructured Surfaces

Machine learning and artificial intelligence accelerate nanomaterials investigations.