Abstract Laser Power Transmission (LPT) is emerging as a highly promising method for wireless energy transfer, particularly for extending the operational endurance of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and supporting the construction of space-based solar power stations. This study investigated the optimal operational parameters of single-junction gallium arsenide
(GaAs) photovoltaic (PV) cells under laser diode (LD) irradiation to enhance the efficiency of
LPT systems. A detailed theoretical analysis was conducted to examine the effects of incident light intensity and spot size on the photoelectric conversion efficiency of GaAs PV cells across different temperature ranges. Experimental results demonstrated that the optimal efficiency of the photovoltaic cell is associated with a rise in incident intensity from 0.35
W/cm² to 0.65 W/cm² as the temperature decreases from 55°C to 5°C, that higher incident intensities are required for optimal efficiency when PV cells operate at lower temperatures, and the 2cm photovoltaic cell can attain a conversion efficiency exceeding 50% only when exposed to a 2cm incident light spot, that high efficiency in photovoltaic cells is attainable solely when the size of the incident light spot is as closely matched to the cell's size as possible. Additionally, this study provides an in-depth discussion of factors limiting photoelectric conversion efficiency and the underlying mechanisms at various temperature conditions.
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