Editors' Picks Collection: Energy

Since 1997, Optics Express has been a respected journal emphasizing scientific and technological innovations in optics and photonics. To honor its 20th anniversary year, the editors of Optics Express selected articles from a variety of topic areas that have been key to the Journal's success.

Note that this selection of articles is not meant to be exhaustive but authoritative, showing that significant contributions were made and continue to be made in these areas.


  1. Improving thin-film crystalline silicon solar cell efficiencies with photonic crystals
    Peter Bermel, Chiyan Luo, Lirong Zeng, Lionel C. Kimerling, and John D. Joannopoulos
    Opt. Express 15(25) 16986-17000 (2007)
  2. Freeform LED lens for uniform illumination
    Yi Ding, Xu Liu, Zhen-rong Zheng, and Pei-fu Gu
    Opt. Express 16(17) 12958-12966 (2008)
  3. Luminescent Solar Concentrators—A review of recent results
    Wilfried G.J.H.M. van Sark, Keith W.J. Barnham, Lenneke H. Slooff, Amanda J. Chatten, Andreas Büchtemann, Andreas Meyer, Sarah J. McCormack, Rolf Koole, Daniel J. Farrell, Rahul Bose, Evert E. Bende, Antonius R. Burgers, Tristram Budel, Jana Quilitz, Manus Kennedy, Toby Meyer, C. De Mello Donegá, Andries Meijerink, and Daniel Vanmaekelbergh
    Opt. Express 16(26) 21773-21792 (2008)
  4. Plasmonic solar cells
    K.R. Catchpole and A. Polman
    Opt. Express 16(26) 21793-21800 (2008)
  5. Optical absorption enhancement in silicon nanowire arrays with a large lattice constant for photovoltaic applications
    Chenxi Lin and Michelle L. Povinelli
    Opt. Express 17(22) 19371-19381 (2009)
  6. Fundamental limit of light trapping in grating structures
    Zongfu Yu, Aaswath Raman, and Shanhui Fan
    Opt. Express 18(S3) A366-A380 (2010)
  7. Ca9La(PO4)7:Eu2+,Mn2+: an emission-tunable phosphor through efficient energy transfer for white light-emitting diodes
    Chien-Hao Huang and Teng-Ming Chen
    Opt. Express 18(5) 5089-5099 (2010)
  8. Approaches for high internal quantum efficiency green InGaN light-emitting diodes with large overlap quantum wells
    Hongping Zhao, Guangyu Liu, Jing Zhang, Jonathan D. Poplawsky, Volkmar Dierolf, and Nelson Tansu
    Opt. Express 19(S4) A991-A1007 (2011)
  9. Design of nanostructured plasmonic back contacts for thin-film silicon solar cells
    Ulrich W. Paetzold, Etienne Moulin, Bart E. Pieters, Reinhard Carius, and Uwe Rau
    Opt. Express 19(S6) A1219-A1230 (2011)
  10. Ultrathin, high-efficiency, broad-band, omni-acceptance, organic solar cells enhanced by plasmonic cavity with subwavelength hole array
    Stephen Y. Chou and Wei Ding
    Opt. Express 21(S1) A60-A76 (2013)
  11. Single cuprous oxide films synthesized by radical oxidation at low temperature for PV application
    Zhigang Zang, Atsushi Nakamura, and Jiro Temmyo
    Opt. Express 21(9) 11448-11456 (2013)