Author’s Accepted Manuscript

Transmission of light through an optical filter of a

one-dimensional photonic crystal: application to the
solar thermophotovoltaic system

Fabrice Kwefeu Mbakop, Noël Djongyang, Geh

Wilson Ejuh, Danwé Raidandi, Paul Woafo
www.elsevier.com/locate/physb

PII: S0921-4526(17)30218-1
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2017.04.033
Reference: PHYSB309924
To appear in: Physica B: Physics of Condensed Matter
Received date: 8 January 2017
Revised date: 28 April 2017
Accepted date: 29 April 2017
Cite this article as: Fabrice Kwefeu Mbakop, Noël Djongyang, Geh Wilson Ejuh,
Danwé Raidandi and Paul Woafo, Transmission of light through an optical filter
of a one-dimensional photonic crystal: application to the solar thermophotovoltaic
s y s t e m , Physica B: Physics of Condensed Matter,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2017.04.033
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 Transmission of light through an optical filter of a one-dimensional photonic crystal:

application to the solar thermophotovoltaic system.

Fabrice Kwefeu Mbakop1, Noël Djongyang1, Geh Wilson Ejuh2, Danwé Raїdandi1,3, Paul

Woafo4

1
Department of Renewable Energy, The Higher Institute of the Sahel, University of Maroua, PO Box

46 Maroua, Cameroon
2
Department of General and Sciences Studies, Fotso Victor University Institute of Technology,

University of Dschang, P.O. Box: 134, Bandjoun, Cameroon

3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Advanced Polytechnic School, University of

Yaounde I, PO Box 8390 Yaounde, Cameroon

4
Laboratory of Modelling and Simulation in Engineering, Biomimetics and Prototypes, Department of

Physics, Faculty of Science, P.O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon


Corresponding author : Tel.: +237 661027276. noeldjongyang@gmail.com

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the thermal efficiency of the emitter and the spectral filter of a

one-dimensional photonic crystal applied to a solar thermophotovoltaic system. The transfer

matrix method is used to analyze the frequency behavior of a structure containing a defect

layer. Results show a variation of the light transmission peak when the period and angle of

incidence change. For a multilayer structure having a defect layer, different variations of the

transmission peak are observed when the period and incident angle vary. And for a multilayer

structure without layer defect, the peak of transmission does not appear despite the variations

of the incident angle and the period.

1
Abbreviations

TPV, Thermophovoltaic; STPV, Solar thermophotovoltaic; TM, Magnetic polarization;

TE, Electric polarization; H, Height; L, Low; PhCs, photonic crystal; 1D, One-dimension; N,

Period; R, Reflectance (%); T, Transmittance (%); SiO2, Silicondioxide; TiO2,

Titaniumdioxide; r, Fresnel reflection coefficient (%); t, Fresnel transmission coefficient (%);

nb , Refractive index of the substrate; na, The index of refraction of air; nH , The high

refractive index material; nL , The low refractive index material; d k , Thickness of the layer k;

c, Velocity of light c= 3.108 m s-1;  , Angle of incidence; o , Permeability;  o , Dielectric

constant; o , Central wavelength (nm);  , Wavelength (nm); 1 , Opening wavelength (nm);

2 , Closing wavelength (nm); Δλ, Bandwidth(nm)

Keywords: Multilayer structure, Emitter, Spectral Filter, Photonic crystals, Transfer Matrix

Method, Solar Thermophotovoltaic system.

1. Introduction

In solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) systems, the solar radiation is absorbed and

reemitted as a thermal radiation before illumination of the solar cells. Absorption in a radiator

and then re-radiation deteriorate the quality of the radiation by reducing the temperature. In

conventional photovoltaic (PV) systems, photons (in the visible range wavelengths) originate

from the sun at a temperature of approximately 6000 K and at a distance of approximately

150 x 106 km. Equally, other photon sources can be used. However, solar PV systems are

strongly determined by the sunlight spectrum and by the fact that there is no back connection

between a receiver and the Sun [1]. In contrast to this, in STPV systems, the optimization may

2
imply a choice of the emitter spectrum and a possibility to return a useless part of radiation

from the receiver back to the emitter surface supplying it by an "additional" power.

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems allow the use of selective filters/mirrors and sub-

banding gap photon reflection to emitter, which ensures the increase of the efficiency [2]. The

electric power density of TPV cells is typically much higher than that of a solar energy driven

PV cells since the radiation intensity of combustion-driven radiant sources can be made much

greater than that of the Sun. For example, Coutts [3] reported that the power density of a

typical solar PV device is of the order of 0.1 W/cm2, whereas that for a TPV device is

potentially between 5-30 W/cm2 [4]. In TPV devices or systems, an object, typically a

selective emitter, is heated to temperatures typically higher than 1000 K; 1300-2000 K is

considered as practical range. The resulting radiation (in form of photons) is absorbed by

semiconductor photovoltaic (PV) cells which convert photons into electricity.

Theoretical [1, 5] and experimental studies [6-9] have shown the opportunity to achieve

high efficiency STPV systems. Even though there are relatively low efficiencies due to the

poor performance of the emitter, absorber, and PV cell and insufficient understanding of the

highly coupled energy transport processes among these components. Some previous studies

using a thermal emitter have demonstrated an overall solar-to-electrical efficiency of ~0.025%

[10, 11] and a recent experiment with a cylindrical tungsten (W) thermal cavity and

Germanium (Ge) PV cells demonstrated an overall efficiency of ~0.7% with a high (~3000 X)

geometrical concentration factor [10,12]. With a similar cylindrical W cavity layout, ~1%

overall efficiency was achieved using Gallium Antimonide (GaSb) PV cells [10-13].

Fortunately, the system performance can be significantly improved by utilizing a

selective filter, which reflects back the photons below the band gap to the radiator for re-

radiation and transmit the photons above the band gap to the cell. For a simple one-

dimensional photonic crystal (1D-PhCs), a popular application is to design transmission filters

3
with narrow band. Such a filter with a structure of (LH)N/D/(HL)N or (LH)N/D/(LH)N is

referred to as a multilayer Fabry-Perot resonator (FPR) [14, 15].

Figure 1 illustrates a general STPV system.

Fig.1. An illustration of the basic concept of a solar thermophotovoltaic system.

The energy from a high temperature heat source is selectively emitted by a selective emitter

towards PV cells. An optical filter is set between the emitter and the cells to recycle the

unconvertible photons to maintain the emitter at a high temperature. The key component of the

system is the PV cells, whose properties are crucial. However, the spectral control components,

namely the optical filter and the selective emitter, are also extremely important [16-18].

Photonic crystals are composed of periodic dielectric layers or metallo-dielectric

nanostructures that affect the propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves in the same

way as the periodic potential in a semiconductor crystal affects the electron motion by

defining allowed and forbidden electronic energy bands. Essentially, photonic crystals

4
contain regularly repeating internal regions of high and low dielectric constant. Photons

(behaving as waves) propagate through this structure (or not depending on their

wavelengths). Wavelengths of light that are allowed to travel are known as modes, and

groups of allowed modes form bands [19, 20]. Disallowed bands of wavelengths are called

photonic band gaps. This gives rise to distinct optical phenomena such as inhibition of

spontaneous emission, high-reflecting omnidirectional mirrors and low-loss-wave guiding,

amongst others.

Some familiar research methods include transfer matrix method (TMM), plane-wave

expansion method and finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method, etc...In contrast to

the other methods, transfer matrix method is much more effective for metallo-dielectric

nanostructures whose permittivity varies with frequency as the amount of calculation is

greatly decreased while good accuracy is also achieved because the transfer matrix is

very small, and also it is convenient to calculate the reflection and transmission

coefficients [21, 22].

In this work, we begin by making a general study on the thermal properties of materials when

subjected to the radiative effect of solar radiation. These materials are chosen according to

their physicochemical characteristics and their potential use as a selective emitter. Thereafter,

we present a study on 1D photonic crystal in order to produce a spectral filter capable of

transmitting light in the band space centered at 1550 nm. Then, the TMM is extended to

simulate the propagation of light in an ideal multilayer structure (LH)N and with a multilayer

structure having a (LH)N(LL)(HL)N default layer for a filter applied to the STPV system. A

peak of up to 100% at the transmission level is observed for a structure comprising a defect

layer (LH)N(LL)(HL)N. This method also allows us to evaluate the behavior of the resonance

created by the material having the smallest index of refraction. We remark that when T = 0, a

transmission peak of 100% appears on the band spaces of the odd parts of the frequency.

5
Finally, the TMM is extended to simulate the spatial evolution of a plane wave collection TE

and TM for different values of the angle of incidence on a structure comprising a defect layer

(LH)N(LL)(HL)N. The transfer matrix model applicable to the 1D photonic crystal of the

dielectric filters makes it possible to optimize the spectral coherence of the STPV system.

In section 2, we present the methods. Section 3 is devoted to the design of the system and

transmission performance. In Section 4, the results and discussion are presented. Conclusion

appears in Section 5.

2. Methods

The assessment of the electric and magnetic fields in the periodic multilayer structures include

several technical calculations. Banerjee et al [23], successfully used Transfer Matrix Method

(TMM) to evaluate the electric and magnetic fields in a metamaterial structure consisting of

positive index materials (PIM) and negative index materials (NIM) alternating structure in

both TE and TM modes. The TMM results are compared with those using standard finite

element method (FEM) techniques. The TMM calculations are exact, less computationally

demanding, not limited by the thickness of the structures and can be performed for arbitrary

angular plane wave spectra. The TMM approach can also be readily applied to a wide variety

of other cases, such as beam propagation through induced reflection gratings in nonlinear

media. We use in this work the TMM method presented by Banerjee et al [23] because it has

many advantages in multilayered structures compared to the FEM method.

2.1. Theoretical analysis of 1-D photonic crystals using the TMM

The analysis of the incident electromagnetic radiation on the structure will be performed using

the transfer matrix method (TMM) [24]. Transfer matrix method is based on Maxwell

equations, whose physical interpretation is to transfer the tangential components of the

electric and magnetic fields intensities of the light from one side of the dielectric layer

to the other side [17].

6
We will produce TMM in the form of the dynamical and the propagating matrices which had

been used to describe the wave interaction through each layer and the wave response at the

interfaces between these layers. The boundary conditions for the vectors of the electric field E

in each side of an unspecified interface allows a simple description by a 2x2 matrix [24, 25].

The amplitudes of the plane waves at different layers can be related by:

 Am  1  A 'm1  1  Am1 
   Dm Dm1    Dm Dm1Pm1   (1)
 Bm   B 'm1   Bm1 

with m = 0, 1, 2,…2N. The matrices D (dynamical matrix) and P (propagation matrix) can be

written as:

 1 1 
Dm    for TE waves (2)
 nm cos  m nm cos  m 

 cos  m cos  m 
Dm    for TM waves (3)
 nm nm 

Since the propagation matrix can be written in the form of sine and cosine functions instead of

the exponential function for simplifying [24, 26], thus:

 cos k  i sin k 0 
Pm    (4)
 0 cos k  i sin k 

2 d k
where k  nk cos  k , (k = 1, 2, 3…) (5)


M11and M12 are the matrix elements of total transfer matrix M for the entire structure given

by:

M M12 
M  N e    11 1
  D0 M e D0
N
(6)
 M 21 M 22 

where N is the number of the periods and Me is the transfer matrix of one period given by:

7
 1 1
M e  D1PD
1 1 D2 P2 D2 (7)

Then by using the above expressions, we can obtain the reflection and the transmission

coefficients [24]:

M 21 1
r and t  (8)
M 11 M 11

Finally, we can calculate the transmittance and the reflectance using the following

expressions:

f1 2
R  r 2 and T  t (9)
f0

where

0 0
f0  n0 cos 0 and f1  n cos  s (10)
0 0 s

This gives us the final form of the transmission and reflection coefficients for the incident

electromagnetic waves inside this 1D-binary periodic structure as a function of the dynamical

and the propagating matrices depending on the numerical solution of Maxwell’s equations

using the TMM [24].

3. Design of the system and transmission performance

In this article, we analyze a TPV system comprising a spectral filter emitting light to a GaSb

cell. Excellent reflection performance means that the filter structure has the reflection band as

wide as possible and possibly a higher reflectivity close to 1.0 for the photons over the band

gap of the GaSb conversion cell. The reflection performance of the filter depend on its

structure size and features of the materials such as contrast of refractive indexes of high and

low dielectric materials and total layers of candidate materials [27]. A 1D-PhCs is deposited

on NaCl substrate which also serves as the front encapsulation layer of a GaSb cell, which is

separated from the emitter by a distance of 1 cm [30]. We use GaSb cell as PV cell, which

8
has a low-direct band gap energy of 0.7eV, corresponding to a wavelength of 1.78µm.

The performance of the TiO2/SiO2 1D-PhC filter is characterized by spectral efficiency

which can be defined as the ratio of the above-band gap power transmitted through the

filter to the PV cell to the net power of the filter got from the emitter. Actually, the

transmission performance of the filter is complicated and its design must account for the

following two issues: the spectral distribution of thermal radiation from the high temperature

emitter and the quantum efficiency of GaSb photovoltaic cell [27-30]. In this paper we will

show that the use of a one-dimensional TiO2/SiO2 structure as a selective filter can provide

enviable spectral efficiency and system performance.

3.1. Spectral distribution and STPV efficiency

The thermal transmitter here behaves as a black body because it entirely absorbs any

radiation which it receives from the heat source. To improve the execution of the reflection

and the spectral transmission of the one-dimensional filter, the structure TiO2/SiO2 photonic

crystal must have correspondences with the spectral distribution of the transmitter at high

temperature in the corresponding band of the reflection and the transmission [19-20].

According to Planck’s law, the spectral power of the radiation of the source at high

temperature is expressed by:

2 hc 2
E  ,T   (11)
  hc  
 5  exp    1
   kT  

where h is the Planck's constant, K the Boltzmann constant and c the speed of the light in the

vacuum. From Stefan’s law, the total power radiated by a black body is:

P  T 4 (12)

The maximum wavelength (λm) of radiated energy depends on the temperature T according to

the Wien’s displacement law.

9
λm.T=2898 µm.K (13)

The ultimate STPV efficiency can be calculated by multiplying the solar-to-thermal efficiency

sol-th and the thermal-to-electrical efficiencyth-elec. Since the theoretical maximum thermal-

to-electrical efficiency is equal to the Carnot efficiency operating between two heat reservoirs,

the ultimate solar-to-electrical STPV efficiency becomes [31].

STPV(sol-elec),max=sol-th,max. carnot (14)

where carnot  1  Tinf TA , TA is the temperature of the intermediate absorber/emitter module

and Tinf is the surrounding (or PV cell) temperature. The maximum solar-to-thermal efficiency

sol-th,max is obtained by assuming a black absorber (α and ε is equal to 1) and fully

concentrated solar irradiation (the solid angles of solar radiation received by the absorber

Ωsun= π) as follows:
4
T 4 T 4 T 
sol th,max  sun 4 A  1   A  (15)
 Tsun  Tsun 

From equations (14) and (15), the ultimate solar-to-electrical STPV efficiency becomes:

  T 4    T 4 
STPV (sol elec),max  1   A   1   inf   (16)
  Tsun     TA  

Equation (16) shows that the increase in TA improves the Carnot efficiency but decreases the

solar-to-thermal efficiency [31].

The same maximum solar-to-thermal efficiency can be obtained without the full solar

concentration when the solid angle of the re-emission from the absorber ΩA is equal to Ωsun by

introducing a perfect thermal cavity or angular selectivity. One obtains:

4
 T 
sol th,max  1 A  A  (17)
 sun  Tsun 

This relation states that for a high efficiency of absorption sol-th,max the temperature TA of the

absorber should be as low as possible to avoid the emission of radiation.

10
3.2. Numerical calculation and analysis for the STPV system

For thermal energy transformation into electric power, the photovoltaic cell which operates

perfectly in the infra-red is GaSb. Its gap energy is Eg = 0.7eV and its gap wavelength is λg =

1.78  m . Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b show two multilayer structures. The first, denoted by (LH)N,

consists of N identical bilayers, the TiO2 and SiO2 material systems for the filter is expressed

with H (high refractive index material) and L (low refractive index material), respectively.

The refractive indices are considered to be nL =1.46 for SiO2 and nH = 2.4 for TiO2 in the

design calculation, respectively. The second multilayer, denoted by (HL)N, is the same as the

first one, but with the order of the layers reversed. The substrate material for the filter is NaCl

and its refractive index is equal to nb = 1.5 in the range of considered wavelength. The central

wavelengths are located in the spectral band between 1550 nm.

The third one, denoted by (LH)N(LL)(HL)N consists of the first two side-by-side and

separated by defect layers LL. It is represented by the Fig. 2a. The multilayer structure

denoted (LH)N is the representation of a structure without defect. It is represented by the Fig.

2b.

(a)

11
 (b)
Fig.2.(a) multilayer structure of one-dimensional filter made up of a layer defect (LH)N(LL)(HL)N ;

(b) multilayer structure of one-dimensional filter without any layer defect (LH)N.

For a stack of quarter-wave films, the central wavelength of the stop-band at a normal to the

incidence can be analytically expressed as [23].

1
0  g (17)
2 1  nH  nL 
1  sin  
  nH  nL 

The thickness of a layer is represented by:

0
dk  (18)
4nk

The center wavelength of the photonic band gap of one-dimensional photonic crystal should

satisfy the following relation:

0
nH lH  nLlL  (19)
2

Where nH and nL are the refractive indices and lH and lL are the thicknesses of the first and the

second dielectric layers, respectively and 0 is the center wavelength of photonic band gap

[25]. In order to have large band gap the following relation is used:

0
nH lH  nLlL  (20)
4

The central wavelengths are located in the spectral band between 1550 nm.

12
4. Results and discussion

Each one-dimensional photonic crystal is composed of two dielectric layers with different

refractive indices which are repeated in one direction. These refractive indices and the

thickness (l) of the layers are very important and directly control the band gap of the one-

dimensional photonic crystal. The center wavelength of the first forbidden band is λo = 1550

nm. The transmittance and frequency of our system (STPV) is demonstrated in different

figures. The different incident angles are chosen in the two modes of polarization (TE and

TM). However, we will use the different calculation methods seen in the previous sections to

determine the simulation results. These results will be compared with other experimental

results of some authors.

4.1. Behavior of the temperature and efficiency STPV

One of the important issues for improving the spectral transmission performance of the one-

dimensional TiO2/SiO2 PC filter is to make the filter structure match well with spectral

distribution of high temperature emitter within the corresponding transmission band. For the

sake of the analysis simplicity, the emitter is set as a blackbody [32, 33]. The results

corresponding to the wavelength range below 2000 nm are given in Fig. 3a and the STPV

system effectiveness is represented by the Fig. 3b.

13
 (a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 3.(a) Spectral radiance of the black body under various temperatures, (b) efficiency of the emitter,

(c) efficiency of the STPV.

Most of the radiation power from an emitter was limited in the spectral range of 0-2000 nm.

Thus, the design of the filter should ensure this wavelength band to be in its high transmission

band. Fig. 3(a) gives a general idea of the amount of light available to a GaSb cell. The red

lines in the figure indicate the fraction of photons from the spectrum that is greater than the

energy band gap. Fig. 3(b) presents the sunlight concentration ratio at different emitter

14
temperature; it presents also the emitter efficiency [1]. The filter should make selective

transmission in the solar spectrum from visible and near IR. To minimize radiation losses, the

absorber portion should be higher than the incoming absorption emitted by solar radiation.

Therefore, TPV cells increases both the temperature and the efficiency of the transmitter by

recycling photons. Furthermore, the efficiency of the transmitter reaches 98% when the

temperature is at the lowest level at T = 1500 K. The efficiency tends to decrease with

increasing temperature. Therefore, the value of the efficiency of the transmitter is 95% for a

temperature T = 1800 K and 92% for a temperature T = 2000 K.

Fig. 3(c) displaysSTPV(sol-elec),max as a function of TA for Tsun = 5800 K and Tinf = 300 K for

maximum concentration. The overall efficiency has a maximum value of 85.4% for an

absorber temperature TA = 2487 K which is in accordance with the results of Würfel et al

[34]. This high efficiency value demonstrates that solar energy is very high-quality energy,

because of the high temperature of the sun. The results obtained in this section are consistent

with previous works on the behavior and efficiency of certain materials when subjected to the

radiative effect of the sun [10]. Furthermore, these results will allow us to situate ourselves on

the quality of our transmitter.

4.2.Transmission of light to the ideal layers and defect layers

The transmission spectrum is obtained when the film is illuminated by a monochromatic wave

at normal incidence. The calculation is done in TM polarization and is represented in Fig. 4.

The transfer matrix method is best suited to multilayer periodic structures. The wavelength

range considered is between 1350 nm and 1850 nm for the ideal structure and the wavelength

range of the defect layer is between to 1300nm and 1900nm.

15
(a) N = 6

(b) N = 8

16
 (c) N = 10

(d)
Fig. 4.(a), (b), (c) presents the Spectrum of transmission of the ideal layer structure (LH)N and

defect layer structure (LH)N(LL)(HL)N in incidence normal. The Fig. 4(d) presents the peak

transmission factor of the defect layer to the different periods.

Table 1 shows the values of the transmission peak when the period varies.

Table 1.Wavelengths of the peak transmission bands when P varies. The substrate material has a

refractive index of 1.5.

Periods Ideal Layer Defect Layer

λ1(nm) λ2 (nm) Δλ (nm) λ1(nm) λ2 (nm) Δλ (nm) Layer Material

N=6 1340 1840 500 1320 1900 580 1 SiO2

N=8 1320 1870 550 1300 1900 600 2 TiO2

N = 10 1320 1880 560 1310 1990 680 Defect SiO2

17
The transmission spectrum is obtained when the film is illuminated by a monochromatic wave

at normal incidence. However, the calculation is done in TM polarization. An SiO2 defect is

used to create a cavity in the photonic crystal. Fig. 4(a), (b) and (c) show the transmission as

a function of wavelength for an ideal layer structure (LH)N and an optical defect layer

structure (LH)N(LL)(HL)N. The 1D-PhC with a defect layer forms a micro-cavity where the

light field of the resonant mode, or the defect mode, is localized around the defect layer. One

transmission peak of 100% appears in the gap at about 1550nm in the case of photonic crystal.

Fig. 4(d) shows the variation of the transmission peak of the defect layer structure at different

period values. The resonance at the transmission is provided by the excitation of the surface

waves at the interface of the film of the photonic crystal. The results of the various spectra of

the above figures show that when the number of pairs of layers increases from N = 6 to N=10,

the photon band gap tends to become narrower and the band gap edges become clearer. A

large increase of the peak value has been observed as the number of pairs of layers increases

as well, which is consistent with the result reported by Xiaohua Shi [35]. Furthermore, this

can be explained by the fact that the actual mirror reflectivity depends on the refractive index

of the cavity medium, i.e. the reflectivity of a quarter wave stack depends on the

refractive index of the medium where the beam is launched and a high index medium

created.

Unlike the work presented by Xiaohua Shi, we use the same process with photonic crystals to

see their behavior with STPV systems.

4.3. Study of the system in defect layer (LH)N(LL)(HL)N

The results of the transmission and the frequency of defect layer when the period varies are

presented below.

18
 (a)N= 6 (b) N= 8

(c) N= 10

Fig.5. Transmission of the light and frequency for the defect layer structure.

The relationship between the transmission and the frequency of the defect layer is shown in

Fig. 5(a), (b) and (c) for different periods N = 6, N = 8 and N = 10. Yi Lin et al [17], used

the ideal multilayer structure and demonstrated in their work that light cannot pass the

photonic crystal when the band gap is close to the odd time frequency. Then, in this case, the

19
transmission T = 0. However, the conduction band has recurring fluctuations when the

transmission T is relatively high at other locations of the frequency. In general, T reaches

the peak at the even times of the fundamental frequency. In this work, we use a

multilayer structure with the defect layer to create a transmission which will be 100%. The

transmission and reflection can be explained as follows: The transmission spectra reflect the

density of photon modes in the photonic crystals. In the region of the photonic band gap, the

incident light beam does not propagate into the crystal but is totally reflected back. However,

by the introduction of the defect layer, a localized photonic state is created in the band gap

region. In this case, the incident beam couples with the defect mode and is transmitted

through the crystal. The response is represented by a sharp transmission peak as shown in the

result of Fig. 5.

Fig. 5(a) shows the band gap when N = 6 while other parameters remain the same.

In contrast to Fig. 5(b) when N = 8 and Fig. 5(c) when N = 10, we see that when the period

increases, recurring fluctuation also increases and images are sparse, the amplitude of the

fluctuation remains the same and the band gap does not change.

Like Yi Lin et al, we use a multilayer structure to demonstrate that light cannot pass the

photonic crystal when the band gap is close to the odd temporal frequency. By adding a defect

layer to this structure, we observe the appearance of a resonance represented by a peak that

can reach 100% transmission.

4.4. Peaks of transmission versus the angle of incidence for the structure having the

defect layer

Fig. 6 presents the behavior of the transmission when varying the angle of incidence of defect

layer. The transmittance of the proposed structure for TM and TE waves is studied for the

different periods N = 6 and N = 8.

20
 (a) N = 6 (b) N = 6

(c) N = 8 (d) N = 8
Fig.6. The wave spectral TM-TE transmittance for the defect layer structure (LH)N(LL)(HL)N

for the different angles of incidence.

Table 2 shows the values of the transmission peak for different incident angles and different

values of the bandwidth.

21
Table 2. Representation of the band gap wavelengths and bandwidth for three values of the

angle of incidence. The substrate material has a refractive index of 1.5.

Periods Angle Peak to TM TE

(deg) transmission

λ (nm) λ1(nm) λ2 (nm) Δλ (nm) λ1(nm) λ2 (nm) Δλ (nm)

0 1550 1320 1850 530 1320 1850 530

N=6 15 1440 1300 1800 500 1280 1830 550

25 1500 1280 1650 370 1210 1780 570

0 1550 1320 1880 530 1320 1850 530

N=8 15 1440 1300 1800 500 1280 1830 550

25 1500 1250 1680 430 1210 1780 570

Our main focus is on the angular dependence of filtering for this filter structure in the defect

layer. The transmission spectra of the proposed structure for TE and TM polarizations are

presented in fig. 6(a), (b), (c) and (d). Two values of the period N = 6 and N= 8 were chosen

for the study. The different angles of incidence taken into consideration are 0o, 15o and 25o

respectively. The results of two polarizations, TE and TM, for the incident wave will be

given.

Firstly, when the wave is polarized at normal incidence, both TE and TM modes present

similar band gap and peak of transmission. However, the transmission peak remains centered

on 1550nm wavelength for all periods. On the other hand, when the angle of incidence

increases to 15o, there is a difference between the TE mode and the TM mode. It is found that

the peak of transmission moves rapidly to the smaller wavelengths when the angle increases.

Therefore, the range for which both the TE and TM polarizations exhibit omni-directional

reflection has a bandwidth (∆λ= λ2– λ1).

22
The TE polarization transmission spectrum of the structure (LH)N(LL)(HL)N moves rapidly

to the smaller wavelengths while in the TM polarization, the movement is gradual; this is in

line with the results obtained by Chi-Chung Liu et al [36]. The forbidden band becomes

narrower when the incident angle of the light is 25o. Therefore, when the period increases

from N = 6 to N = 8 for the two polarization TE-TM modes, the transmission peak decreases.

Chi-Chung Liu et al varied the thickness of the defect layer by observing the behavior of their

system when the angle of incidence is polarized in TE mode. In our work, we stabilize the

thickness value of the defect layer and then we give different values to the angle of incidence

for the two modes of polarization TE and TM. Furthermore, we deduce that oblique incidence

in this case provides a simple technique for adjusting phase adaptation and local field

improvements for the sample. However, the variation in the angle of incidence makes it

possible to obtain different peak values for the transmission of light and for the efficiency of

the device. It is shown that widely different conversion efficiencies can be obtained for

various incidence angles and various thicknesses of the nonlinear material. This is amply

discussed in the literature [30, 37].

5. Conclusion

In the present work, we have developed the transfer matrix method to analyze the behavior of

the transmission peak of the filter 1D-PhCs submitted in the spectrum of visible and near

infrared applied in STPV systems for the defect layer structure. The efficiency of the system

STPV reaches 93% and that of the transmitter increases with decreasing temperature. This

numerical method also allowed us to analyze the impact of the period and the angle of

incidence on the peak of the light transmission. Furthermore, the band gap of the transmission

decreases and shifts to smaller wavelengths when the angle of incidence increases. The light

does not pass through the bandwidth of the crystal when the frequency is in the odd portions

23
and there is a peak transmission of 100%. The center wavelength, set at 1550nm, allowed us

to have the peak of light transmission.

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to express their deepest and sincere thanks to all the staff of the

Renewable Energy Lab of the University of Maroua for their continuous guidance and support

during this work.

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