A new planar light concentrator design is proposed by using unique diffraction properties of high-contrast subwavelength gratings (HCGs). HCGs have the ability to diffract the incoming light at steep angles with very high efficiency. By integrating the HCGs on top of planar glass substrates, light can be guided in the glass leading to high concentration at the edges. Finite difference time domain simulation results show that concentration ratio close to 50 can be achieved by optimizing the grating parameters. These planar light concentrators find application in various areas including concentrated solar power, light pipes and spectrum splitters.

Date Published: 23 February 2012
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8270, High Contrast Metastructures, 82700Q (23 February 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.924080

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8270:
High Contrast Metastructures
Connie J. Chang-Hasnain; Fumio Koyama; Alan Eli Willner; Weimin Zhou, Editor(s)