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Physical Review A

Increasing photocell power by quantum coherence induced by external source

Konstantin E. Dorfman, Moochan B. Kim, Anatoly A. Svidzinsky

Published Nov 14, 2011• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show that photocell power can be substantially enhanced by quantum coherence in the model proposed by [M. O. Scully Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 207701 (2010)]. Here coherence is induced by an external microwave drive. We show that although such coherence requires an extra energy input, the amount of extra input power can be much smaller than produced enhancement of the photovoltaic power. We demonstrate that for certain parameters power enhancement is governed by quantum coherence and is not just a result of population transfer due to the driving field. This corroborates and extends the earlier work of Scully.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.84.053829

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We show that photocell power can be substantially enhanced by quantum coherence in the model proposed by [M. O. Scully Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 207701 (2010)]. Here coherence is induced by an external microwave drive. We show that although such coherence requires an extra energy input, the amount of extra input power can be much smaller than produced enhancement of the photovoltaic power. We demonstrate that for certain parameters power enhancement is governed by quantum coherence and is not just a result of population transfer due to the driving field. This corroborates and extends the earlier work of Scully.
In this work we report a quantum interference mediated control of the resonance profiles in a generic three-level system and investigate its effect on key quantum interference (QI) phenomena. Namely in a three level configuration with doublets in the ground or excited states, we show control over enhancement and suppression of the emission (absorption) profiles. This is achieved by manipulation of the strength of QI and the energy spacing of the doublets. We analyze the application of such QI induced control of the resonance profile in photo-detection, and photovoltaics in agreement with the results of Scully [M.O.Scully, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 207701 (2010)] and disagreement with Kirk [A.P.Kirk, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 048703 (2011)].
It is generally believed that quantum interference can improve the transport of photo-generated carriers in a photocell, thereby improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency. In this work, we explicitly explore different roles of quantum interferences in the photoelectric conversion efficiency in a quantum dot (QD) photocell with two intermediate bands. The increasing transition rates from different charge transport channels bring out first increasing, then decreasing, and then monotonically decreasing photoelectric conversion efficiencies. And the photoelectric conversions increase with quantum coherence generated by the upper transition rates owing to their robust quantum interference. However, the conversion efficiency decrease with the quantum interference induced by two lower-transition rates due to the shortened population lifetime in the intermediate bands. These results provide insight into different roles of quantum interferences in photoelectric conversion efficiency, and may provide some artificial strategies to achieve efficient photoelectric conversion via the adjusted quantum interferences in a QD photocell with multi-intermediate bands.
Coupling of quantum-dot circuits to microwave photons enables us to investigate photon-assisted quantum transport. Here, we revisit this typical circuit quantum electrodynamical setup by introducing the Kerr nonlinearity of photons. By exploiting quantum critical behavior, we propose a powerful scheme to control the power-harvesting efficiency in the microwave regime, where the driven-dissipative optical system acts as an energy pump. It drives electron transport against a load in the quantum-dot circuit. The energy transfer and, consequently, the harvesting efficiency are enhanced near the critical point. As the critical point moves towards to low input power, high efficiency within experimental parameters is achieved. Our results complement fundamental studies of photon-to-electron conversion at the nanoscale and provide practical guidance for designs of integrated photoelectric devices through quantum criticality.
We analyze the photovoltaic current through a double quantum dot system coupled to a high-quality driven microwave resonator. The conversion of photons in the resonator to electronic excitations produces a current flow even at zero bias across the leads of the double quantum dot system. We demonstrate that due to the quantum nature of the electromagnetic field in the resonator, the photovoltaic current exhibits a double peak dependence on the frequency $\ensuremath{\omega}$ of an external microwave source. The distance between the peaks is determined by the strength of interaction between photons in the resonator and electrons in the double quantum dot. The double peak structure disappears as strengths of relaxation processes increases, recovering a simple classical condition for maximal current when the microwave frequency is equal to the resonator frequency.