A path to practical Solar Pumped Lasers via Radiative Energy Transfer

• Published in: Scientific reports 2015-10, Vol.5 (1), p.14758, Article 14758
• Main Authors: Reusswig, Philip D., Nechayev, Sergey, Scherer, Jennifer M., Hwang, Gyu Weon, Bawendi, Moungi G., Baldo, Marc. A., Rotschild, Carmel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 140/125; 639/624/1020/1093; 639/624/1020/1094; Energy conversion; Energy transfer; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lasers; multidisciplinary; Optics; Photovoltaic cells; Science; semiconductor lasers; SOLAR ENERGY; Solar radiation; solid-state lasers; Sunlight
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep14758

The optical conversion of incoherent solar radiation into a bright, coherent laser beam enables the application of nonlinear optics to solar energy conversion and storage. Here, we present an architecture for solar pumped lasers that uses a luminescent solar concentrator to decouple the conventional trade-off between solar absorption efficiency and the mode volume of the optical gain material. We report a 750-μm-thick Nd 3+ -doped YAG planar waveguide sensitized by a luminescent CdSe/CdZnS (core/shell) colloidal nanocrystal, yielding a peak cascade energy transfer of 14%, a broad spectral response in the visible portion of the solar spectrum and an equivalent quasi-CW solar lasing threshold of 23 W-cm −2 , or approximately 230 suns. The efficient coupling of incoherent, spectrally broad sunlight in small gain volumes should allow the generation of coherent laser light from intensities of less than 100 suns.