Dark states enhance the photocell power via phononic dissipation

Abstract

The high efficiency of the photon-to-charge conversion process found in photosynthetic complexes has inspired researchers to explore a new route for designing artificial photovoltaic materials. Quantum coherence can provide a mean to surpass the Shockley–Quiesser device concept limit by reducing the radiative recombination. Taking inspiration from these new discoveries, we consider a linearly-aligned system as a light-harvesting antennae composed of two-level optical emitters coupled with each other by dipole–dipole interactions. Our simulations show that the certain dark states can enhance the power with the aid of intra-band phononic dissipation. Due to cooperative effects, the output power will be improved when incorporating more emitters in the linear system.