Enhanced Photocurrent Efficiency of a Carbon Nanotube Electromagnetically Coupled to a Photonic Structure

Abstract

We present photocurrent power-enhancement calculations of a carbon nanotube p-n junction electromagnetically coupled to a highly-efficient photonic structure. Particular attention is paid to a GaAs photonic structure specifically modified to increase the intensity of infrared light onto the nanotube region for effective energy conversion. Using finite-difference time-domain calculations, we compute a significant increase in electric field intensity in the nanotube region which enables an estimation of power efficiency. These results demonstrate the potential of using a photonic structure to couple large-scale infrared sources with carbon nanotubes while still retaining all the unique optoelectronic properties found at the nanoscale.