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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Black silicon photodetector breaks the 100% efficiency limit:

Aalto University researchers have developed a black silicon photodetector that has reached above 130% efficiency. Thus, for the first time, a photovoltaic device has exceeded the 100% limit, which has earlier been considered as the theoretical maximum for external quantum efficiency.

"When we saw the results, we could hardly believe our eyes. Straight away we wanted to verify the results by independent measurements," says Prof. Hele Savin, head of the Electron Physics research group at Aalto University.

The independent measurements were carried out by the German National Metrology Institute, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), which is known to provide the most accurate and reliable measurement services in Europe.

Head of the PTB Laboratory of Detector Radiometry, Dr. Lutz Werner comments, "After seeing the results, I instantly realized that this is a significant breakthrough—and at the same time, a much-welcomed step forward for us metrologists dreaming of higher sensitivities."

[...] The results leading to the record efficiency has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters in an article titled "Black-silicon ultraviolet photodiodes achieve external quantum efficiency above 130%."

Garin et al. Black-silicon ultraviolet photodiodes achieve external quantum efficiency above 130%, Physical Review Letters (2020). arxiv.org/abs/1907.13397

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