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%. We have investigated the most suitable band-gap materials to transfer kilowatts of laser power to remote systems considering a wide range of scenarios, i.e. energy gap, series resistance, laser power, atmosphere and distance. Our results indicate the high energy gap materials (>2 eV) such as ZnS, SiC, AlP, CdS or InN offer a novel route to improve the efficiency of high-power laser transmission in more than 30%. • The suitable band-gap materials for remote laser high-power are investigated. • Different scenario of energy gap, series resistance and power are selected. • The spectral attenuation of the atmosphere with distance is considered. • High energy gap materials could improve the efficiency in more than 30%.