Low reflectivity surfaces are formed by particle track etching of a dielectric material such that the horizontal scale of surface texture is less than the wavelength of incident radiation and the depth of texture is equal to or greater than said wavelength. As a consequence, the reflection coefficient is thereby reduced by a factor of at least two, and light is more efficiently transmitted into the material. For solar cells encapsulated in transparent material, efficiency of absorption of solar radiation may be improved by at least about two times per etched surface, or to less than about 2% for the air/transparent material interface and to less than about 15% for the transparent material/solar cell interface.