Design of wide-angle selective absorbers/emitters with dielectric filled metallic photonic crystals for energy applications

The design and simulation of a wide angle, spectrally selective absorber/emitter metallic photonic crystal (MPhC) is presented. By using dielectric filled cavities, the angular, spectrally selective absorption/emission of the MPhC is dramatically enhanced over an air filled design by minimizing diffraction losses. Theoretical analysis is performed and verified via rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) based simulations. An efficiency comparison of the dielectric filled designs for solar thermophotovoltaic applications is performed for the absorber and emitter which yields a 7% and 15.7% efficiency improvement, respectively, compared to air filled designs. The converted power output density is also improved by 33.5%.