High saturation intensity in InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells and impact on the realization of the intermediate band concept at room-temperature

Abstract

High optical saturation intensity at room temperature is reported for an ensemble of undoped quantum dots. The non-linearity of the light-generated-current under resonant excitation from the valence band to the intermediate band is shown to be made up of two components: a background two-photon absorption term and a resonant optical saturation term. It is argued that the solar intensity is much lower than the saturation intensities involved for the first and second transitions in the intermediate band solar cell under 1-sun illumination and therefore prevents exciting an appreciable amount of population in the terminal level that can be ionized to the continuum and generate an appreciable additional current. This additional current is required for enhancing the energy conversion efficiency of a solar cell based on the intermediate band concept. Operating at cryogenic temperatures leads to a reduction in the saturation intensity but it might not be sufficient for increasing the energy conversion efficiency, unless concentrated sun light, and/or high density of quantum dots, and/or quantum dots with a lifetime more comparable to the radiative lifetime are used. The conclusions of this paper are also expected to apply to other quantum dot systems.