Laser Power Converter Architectures Based on 3C‐SiC with Efficiencies >80%

Abstract

High power laser transmission technology is based on energy transfer through a monochromatic laser onto a photovoltaic receiver avoiding the limitations of conventional wiring. Current technology, headed by GaAs‐based devices, faces two limitations: the intrinsic entropic losses and the degradation at high input power densities due to ohmic losses. Two novel laser power converters focused on overcoming these limitations are proposed. 3C‐SiC is used as base material because of its high bandgap (2.36 eV) and its excellent crystallographic properties in order to reduce the entropic losses. Also, the current decreases due to the inherent flux reduction of high energy photons. To minimize ohmic losses, a recently proposed vertical architecture is explored, which can significantly reduce series resistance around two orders of magnitude (≈10−5 Ω cm2). Furthermore, 3C‐SiC is also implemented in a conventional horizontal architecture to show the advantage of increasing the energy gap to reduce the ohmic losses. The two laser power converters obtain efficiencies above the state‐of‐the‐art (87.4% at 3000 W cm−2 for the vertical architecture and 81.1% at 100 W cm−2 for the horizontal architecture) Taking this into account, the new devices open a new route for ultrahigh efficiency remote powered systems.

Design and Characterization of a 53.5% Efficient Gallium Indium Phosphide‐Based Optical Photovoltaic Converter under 637 nm Laser Irradiation at 10 W cm−2

“…We used Silvaco Atlas Device Simulator, [29] a reliable physics-based TCAD software capable of accurately replicating the performance of semiconductor devices, such as CPV solar cells and OPC. [30,31] During the simulation process, an analytical low-field mobility model was employed, and all concentration-dependent recombination mechanisms (Shockley-Read-Hall, radiative, and Auger), along with surface and interface recombinations, were considered to reproduce and optimize the behavior of our GaInP-based OPC device. Also, the temperature was set constant at 298 K as a first step in the design of the OPC.…”

High-Efficiency and High-Power Multijunction InGaAs/InP Photovoltaic Laser Power Converters for 1470 nm

“…The resulting Power Converter Performance Chart [41] clearly highlights that multijunction OPCs are required for obtaining not only high conversion efficiencies, but also high output powers. The research related to photovoltaic devices suggests other potential future device improvements [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67], optical wireless power transmission applications [68][69][70][71][72][73][74], and system design strategies [75][76][77][78].…”

74.7% Efficient GaAs-Based Laser Power Converters at 808 nm at 150 K

“…Our recent Power Converter Performance Chart [41,47] clearly highlights that multijunction OPCs are most advantageous to obtain high device performance. The research related to photovoltaic devices also suggests other potential future device improvements [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67], as well as new optical wireless power transmission (OWPT) applications and design strategies for future systems [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78].…”