Optical reflectance and transmission of a textured surface

Abstract The reflectivity of a solar thermal or solar electric device is a key parameter in efficiency. In the recent solar device literature, highly “textured” surfaces have been shown to reduce the reflectivity appreciably. The theoretical model used to describe this phenomenon is light trapping by multiple reflections. Surface roughness has also been considered by others through statistical scattering theory. The range of validity of either model is limited to a scale of texture larger than the wavelength of the light. For the micron scaled texture which is of interest, however, both approaches fall into the category of approximate solutions to approximate models of the surface. We approached the problem differently. We obtained the effects of texture on reflectivity and transmission through an exact calculation of a boundary layer whose complex dielectric constant is an appropriate average of the bulk dielectric constant of the material and air. The calculations were made for arbitrary angles of incidence, polarization and wavelength, as well as for arbitrary spatial variation of the dielectric constant through the boundary layer. We developed the spatial variation through effective medium models for a discontinuous surface layer. Finally, we compared the computer calculation with an exact analytic treatment for normal incidence, as well as with experimental reflectivities on several textured surfaces.