Band-gap material selection for remote high-power laser transmission

Abstract

High-power laser transmission (HPLT) is attracting a huge interest from both the scientific and industrial community due to its large number of potential applications and future perspectives. This technology consists of the use of a monochromatic light source to power supply a remote system by using a photovoltaic converter. HPLT offers a technological paradigm shift with the possibility of transmitting kilowatts to several kilometres without the use of wires. However, HPLT is still under development and the current efficiency, ≈20%, needs to be improved to achieve the actual potential of the technology. This work is focused on the investigation of the most suitable materials to improve the performance of HPLT systems under a wide range of scenarios. For the first time, the monochromatic efficiency of PV converters, considering the attenuation of the atmosphere with the distance, and for various input light intensities and series resistance scenarios, is deeply investigated. The results indicate that high energy gap materials such as ZnS (3.54 eV) or 6H–SiC (3 eV) could lead to record efficiencies and improve current values in more than 30%.