Intra-cavity laser-assisted solar-energy conversion

Abstract

It is shown how to efficiently convert solar into electrical energy, taking advantage of laser amplification and intra-cavity use of a low-efficiency converter. The latter may consist of a low-efficiency transparent photovoltaic cell or a thermoelectric cell integrated into a metallic laser-cavity mirror, constituting a minor intra-cavity loss for the laser operation. The overall power-conversion efficiency is derived and discussed for a variety of current solid-state laser materials. It is shown that power-conversion efficiencies comparable with commercial silicon photovoltaic cells are obtained with current laser materials.