Search

Understanding and management of light is of great importance for nanoscale devices. This report demonstrates enhanced absorption, photoluminescence and scattering in InP nanowires when coated with dielectric polymer shell. The shells increase absorption and emission by a factor of ~2 and photoluminescence by a factor of ~4. A thorough optical characterization is provided, including reflectance, transmission, luminescence and scattering to incident and transmitted directions. From this characterization, we derive the distribution of absorbed light within the structure (InP nanowires, Au seed particles and the substrate). Additionally, reflectance, transmission and emission are shown to become increasingly diffuse with the dielectric shells. The results are thought to provide better understanding in light-matter interaction in nanostructures, as well as to provide valuable tools for light and scattering management in nanoscale optoelectronics.

The spectral specular reflectance of conventional and novel reflective materials for solar concentrators is measured with an acceptance angle of 17.5 mrad over the wavelength range 300−2500 nm at incidence angles 15–60° using a spectroscopic goniometry system. The same experimental setup is used to determine the spectral narrow-angle transmittance of semi-transparent materials for solar collector covers at incidence angles 0–60°. In addition, the angle-resolved surface scattering of reflective materials is recorded by an area-scan CCD detector over the spectral range 350–1050 nm. A comprehensive summary, discussion, and interpretation of the results are included in the associated research article “Spectral reflectance, transmittance, and angular scattering of materials for solar concentrators” in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells., Data in Brief, 6, ISSN:2352-3409

Light interacts with an organism's integument on a variety of spatial scales. For example in an iridescent bird: nano-scale structures produce color; the milli-scale structure of barbs and barbules largely determines the directional pattern of reflected light; and through the macro-scale spatial structure of overlapping, curved feathers, these directional effects create the visual texture. Milli-scale and macro-scale effects determine where on the organism's body, and from what viewpoints and under what illumination, the iridescent colors are seen. Thus, the highly directional flash of brilliant color from the iridescent throat of a hummingbird is inadequately explained by its nano-scale structure alone and questions remain. From a given observation point, which milli-scale elements of the feather are oriented to reflect strongly? Do some species produce broader "windows" for observation of iridescence than others? These and similar questions may be asked about any organisms that have evolved a particular surface appearance for signaling, camouflage, or other reasons. In order to study the directional patterns of light scattering from feathers, and their relationship to the bird's milli-scale morphology, we developed a protocol for measuring light scattered from biological materials using many high-resolution photographs taken with varying illumination and viewing directions. Since we measure scattered light as a function of direction, we can observe the characteristic features in the directional distribution of light scattered from that particular feather, and because barbs and barbules are resolved in our images, we can clearly attribute the directional features to these different milli-scale structures. Keeping the specimen intact preserves the gross-scale scattering behavior seen in nature. The method described here presents a generalized protocol for analyzing spatially- and directionally-varying light scattering from complex biological materials at multiple structural scales.

International audience; This study focuses on the directionality of wheat leaf reflectance as a function of leaf surface characteristics. Wheat leaf BRF measurements were completed under 45° zenith illumination angle in three visible broad spectral bands with a conoscope that provides very high angular resolution data over a large portion of the whole hemisphere, including around the illumination direction. The measurements show a clear anisotropy with a specular lobe in the forward scattering direction and a small but significant hotspot feature in the backward scattering direction. The BRF directional features further depend on the illumination orientation because of the leaf roughness created by longitudinal veins: the specular lobe was more pronounced when the illumination was perpendicular to the veins, while specular reflection was more spread over azimuths for longitudinal illumination. Moreover, a sharp hotspot feature was observed for transversal illumination where the apparent roughness is the largest. The scattering was tentatively decomposed into specular, hotspot and isotropic components. Results showed that the hotspot contribution to the directional hemispherical reflectance factor (DHRF) was marginal conversely to that of the specular component that ranges between 0.036 and 0.050 (absolute DHRF value). The specular component was almost the same in the three visible bands considered. The isotropic component originating from volume scattering was contributing the most to the DHRF and was depending on wavelength, ranging between 0.055 and 0.097 in absolute DHRF value. A simple model was proposed to estimate the volume scattering from the isotropic and the surface components. Consequences of these findings were drawn on the ability to estimate leaf biochemical composition independently from leaf surface scattering, as well as on the interpretation of remote sensing at the canopy level.