Tunable oscillating lateral photovoltaic effect in surface-patterned metal-semiconductor structures.

The linear output of lateral photovoltage (LPV) with light position is the main feature of conventional lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE), which can be used to detect small displacement. In this study, we report a novel oscillating LPE in a surface-patterned metal-semiconductor structure, which can be well manipulated by the metal thickness and the comb properties. Compared with the conventional linear LPE, this oscillating LPE not only contributes a considerable higher sensitivity of LPV along the lateral direction, but also shows a distinguishable response to the vertical direction, indicating a new way of detecting two-dimensional displacement with much higher precision.