Circular photogalvanic effect in organometal halide perovskite CH3NH3PbI3

We study the circular photogalvanic effect in the organometal halideperovskite solar cell absorber CH3NH3PbI3. The calculatedphotocurrent density for a system with broken inversion symmetry is about 10−9 A/W, comparable to the previously studiedquantum well and bulk Rashba systems. The circular photogalvanic effect relies on inversion symmetry breaking, so that by tuning the optical penetration depth, the degree of inversion symmetry breaking can be probed at different depths from the sample surface. We propose that measurements of this effect may clarify the presence or absence of inversion symmetry, which remains a controversial issue and has been argued to play an important role in the high conversion efficiency of this material.

Source: Applied Physics Letters - November 8, 2016 Category: Physics Authors: Junwen Li and Paul M. Haney Source Type: research