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We demonstrate the use of laser diodes and multijunction photovoltaic power converters to efficiently deliver watts of electrical power for long-distance or cryogenic applications. Transmission through single-mode and multi-mode fibers at the wavelengths of 808 nm and 1470/1550 nm are studied. An electrical output power of ~0.1 W is obtained after a 5 km transmission through a standard single-mode SMF28 fiber fed with 0.25 W of optical power. An electrical output power of ~1 W is demonstrated after a 5 km transmission with a standard OM1 multi-mode fiber fed with ~2.5 W. Photovoltaic conversion efficiencies reaching Eff ~49% are obtained with an output voltage of ~5 V using commercial multijunction laser power converters. For low-temperature applications, an ultra-sensitive silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is used to detect the residual light leaked from fibers as the temperature is decreased. Our study demonstrates that specific fiber types enable low-loss transmission compatible with cryogenic requirements and without light leakage triggering of the SiPM. A cryogenic power-over-fiber system at ~1470 nm is demonstrated with ~2 W of electrical power converted over a 10 m distance having a conversion efficiency of Eff > 65% at 77 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in long wavelength and cryogenic laser power converters have unlocked record performances in both areas. Here, devices for an optical input at ~1470 nm are studied for cryogenic applications, combining these cryogenic and long-wavelength attributes. Multijunction laser power converters are demonstrated to have a high-efficiency operation at 77 K. The photovoltaic-power-converting III-V semiconductor devices are designed with InGaAs-absorbing layers, here with 10 thin subcells (PT10), connected by transparent tunnel junctions. Unprecedented conversion efficiencies of up to 67.5% are measured at liquid nitrogen temperatures with an output power of Pmpp = 1.35 W at an average optical input intensity of ~62 W/cm2. A remarkably low bandgap voltage offset value of Woc~50 mV is obtained at an average optical input intensity of ~31 W/cm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical wireless power transmission (OWPT) can be used for applications that cannot access traditional power using metal wires. Photovoltaic power-converting III-V semiconductor devices are the core components required for achieving such remote and galvanically isolated power deployments. The development of high-efficiency power converters has already propelled several sensors and probe applications. This growing applied physics field is leveraging the use of ubiquitous laser diode products, now commonly available at various wavelengths. Novel multijunction designs, based on the vertical epitaxial heterostructure architecture devices, have recently allowed fiber-based and free-space applications to quickly progress to higher electrical powers and to benefit from other laser wavelengths. Here, we discuss the perspectives of such multijunction power converters from the viewpoint of realizing additional OWPT deployments and for enabling more probe, sensor, or electronic subsystem power capabilities. The Perspective hence provides a roadmap for devices achieving not only higher conversion efficiency, but also elaborates on the practical aspects necessary to concurrently push the power converters to higher output powers. The photovoltaic multijunction power-converting device is particularly a game-changer for smartly increasing the output voltage and therefore maintaining practical optimal external loads at high laser input powers. Examples of conversion efficiencies above 60% for output powers up to 17.5 W are demonstrated at ∼808 nm in this study, and up to 22 W of output power is obtained with an efficiency of 48.9% at ∼980 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic multijunction power-converting III–V semiconductor devices generate electrical power from the optical energy of laser beams. They exhibit conversion efficiencies reaching values greater than 60% and 50% for the GaAs and the InP material systems, respectively. The applications of optical wireless power transmission and power-over-fiber greatly benefit from employing such laser power converters constructed with multiple subcells; each is designed with either thin GaAs or InGaAs absorber regions. This study elucidates how the application of electric fields on thin heterostructures can create specific current–voltage characteristics due to modifications of the absorption characteristics from Franz–Keldysh perturbations and the onset of quantum-confined Stark effects. Negative differential photocurrent behavior can be observed as the reverse bias voltage is increased, until the corresponding current-clamping subcell reaches its reverse breakdown condition. The reverse voltage breakdown characteristics of the subcells were also measured to depend on the thickness of the subcell and on the optical intensity. The onset of the reverse breakdown was found to be at ~2.0–2.5 V under illumination and the thinner subcells exhibited higher levels of reverse bias currents. These effects can produce distinctive current–voltage behavior under spectrally detuned operations affecting the thinner subcells' biases, but have no significant impact on the performance and maximum power point of multijunction power converters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable and reliable optical power converting devices are obtained using vertical multi-junction laser power converters. They are based on the GaAs and the InP material systems and are used for power-over-fiber or power-beaming applications. This study demonstrates that, in addition to providing the overall best conversion efficiencies with output voltages ideal for various applications, these semiconductor photovoltaic devices are very tolerant to beam non-uniformity, partial illumination, or beam displacement variations. Examples are given with two tight beams, each covering as little as ~7% of the cell area. An optical input power of 10 W was converted with still an efficiency of Eff ~59.4%. For an input power of 20 W, the illuminated area was set to ~22% without significantly affecting the conversion efficiency of Eff ~60%. Remarkably, for a beam diameter at ~65% of the chip length (i.e., covering ~35% of the chip area), a converted power of 29.5 W was obtained using a 12-junction GaAs device with a conversion efficiency of 61%. For a 10 junction InP-based device, an efficiency of Eff = 51.1% was obtained at an output voltage reaching as high as Voc = 5.954 V for an average optical intensity of 69 W/cm2 and an illumination area of ~57%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-efficiency multijunction laser power converters are demonstrated for low temperature applications with an optical input at 808 nm. The photovoltaic power converting III-V semiconductor devices are designed with GaAs absorbing layers, here with 5 thin subcells (PT5), connected by transparent tunnel junctions. Unprecedented conversion efficiencies of up to 74.7% are measured at temperatures around 150 K. At temperatures around 77 K, a remarkably low bandgap offset value of Woc = 71 mV is obtained at an optical input intensity of ~7 W/cm2. At 77 K, the PT5 retains an efficiency of 65% with up to 0.3 W of converted output power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-efficiency capabilities of multijunction laser power converters are demonstrated for high-power applications with an optical input of around 1470 nm. The InP-based photovoltaic power converting III-V semiconductor devices are designed here, with 10 lattice-matched subcells (PT10-InGaAs/InP), using thin InGaAs absorbing layers connected by transparent tunnel junctions. The results confirm that such long-wavelength power converter devices are capable of producing electrical output voltages greater than 4–5 V. The characteristics are compatible with common electronics requirements, and the optical input is well suited for propagation over long distances through fiber-based optical links. Conversion efficiencies of ~49% are measured at electrical outputs exceeding 7 W for an input wavelength of 1466 nm at 21 °C. The Power Converter Performance Chart has been updated with these PT10-InGaAs/InP results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of luminescent coupling are observed in monolithic 5V, five-junction GaAs phototransducers. Power conversion efficiency was measured at 61.6%±3% under the continuous, monochromatic illumination for which they were designed. Modeling shows that photon recycling can account for up to 350mV of photovoltage in these devices. Drift-diffusion based simulations including a luminescent coupling term in the continuity equation show a broadening of the internal quantum efficiency curve which agrees well with experimental measurements. Luminescent coupling is shown to expand the spectral bandwidth of the phototransducer by a factor of at least 3.5 for devices with three or more junctions, even in cases where multiple absorption/emission events are required to transfer excess carriers into the limiting junction. We present a detailed description of the novel luminescent coupling modeling technique used to predict these performance enhancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous over 40-W electric power and optical data transmission using an optical fiber is demonstrated for optically powered remote antenna units in future mobile communication networks. In this article, to further increase the delivered electric power by power-over-fiber link using a double-clad fiber, we improve the link design to extract a higher feed light power from the double-clad fiber output. Furthermore, to increase the electric power for driving remote antenna units, we employ a specially customized photovoltaic power converter that directly converts optical power into electric power. The photovoltaic power converter can input a feed light with power of over 20 W and has a high optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency of over 50%. As a result, the combination of the improved power-over-fiber link design and the use of the photovoltaic power converter successfully achieves the electric power delivery of up to 43.7 W. This is the highest electric power delivery demonstration by power-over-fiber with optical data signals using a single optical fiber, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic cells are detrimentally impacted by exposure to ionizing radiation, a consideration of particular significance for applications in outer space. In this paper, we demonstrate that vertical epitaxial heterostructure architecture (VEHSA) laser power converters are particularly resilient toward radiation-induced degradation; in particular, we observed reductions in efficiency of 1.9% and 6.4% for 5- and 20-junction monolithic devices, respectively, at near 3 W of input power ($V_{\textrm {oc}}$ of 5.78 and 23.32 V and peak response near 850 nm). This contrasts markedly with the 16.9% and 25.4% reductions in efficiency for the same 5- and 20-junction devices when using a detuned source at 808 nm, which we attribute to a reduction in nonradiative recombination lifetimes leading to a suppression of radiative recombination driven photon recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photonic power converters (PPCs) are a class of photovoltaic devices designed for efficient conversion of monochromatic (laser or LED) light to electricity. These devices are composed of multiple p-n junction diodes arranged in a tandem configuration and connected in series. They have reached high energy conversion efficiencies (70%) and areal power densities of 100 W/cm $^2$. When these devices are illuminated with a high-efficiency diode laser, they can provide isolated dc–dc conversion from the laser voltage (<2.3 V) to the open-circuit voltage of the PPC (1.2 to 23 V) with low capacitance and low conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) compared to conventional switching power converters. The voltage conversion ratio is controlled by varying the number of p-n junctions in the PPC from 1 to 20 in demonstrated designs. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of photonic power conversion within two new applications. First, the laser/PPC unit is applied as a linear photonic boost converter, producing a regulated 12 V output stepped-up from a 3.3 V input to the control board. Output ripple is negligible as compared with a switching boost converter of similar size. Efficiency of this linear, regulated dc–dc conversion system was 12.7%, compared with a 77.6% reference switch-mode converter. Power density was 0.18 W/cm $^{3}$ , compared with 1.5 W/cm $^{3}$ for the reference. Relative to switch-mode power conversion, the photonic technology has lower efficiency and lower power density, but superior isolation and rejection of ripple and EMI. Both technologies are highly scalable. For the second application, the same unit is applied to power a 650-V SiC mosfet gate driver requiring high galvanic isolation, demonstrating a 20 dB reduction in conducted-current EMI from the power circuit into the low-voltage control systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dissociative 193 nm photochemistry of both multilayer and submonolayer NH3 on Pt(111) has been studied. Upon irradiation with 193 nm light, the submonolayer covered Pt surface yields only a small amount of NH3 desorption. In contrast, the desorption products from the 193 nm irradiation of a multilayer NH3 covered Pt surface are both NH3 and atomic H. The NH3 photodesorption yield from the multilayer is much greater than from the submonolayer covered surface. A nearly field-free resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization technique was used to carefully distinguish between H and NH3 photoproducts. From the multilayer, NH3 desorbs with a distinct bimodal hyperthermal velocity distribution. The atomic H velocity distribution exhibits both a hyperthermal component and, surprisingly, a ∼150 K thermalized component. Our multilayer data is consistent with adsorbate absorption, and we have proposed a model based on multiple collisions of desorbing species to explain our results. In this model, NH3 molecules at the surface photodissociate and directly eject H atoms into the gas phase with a hyperthermal kinetic energy. NH3 molecules buried within the multilayer also undergo photodissociation but their ejected H atoms suffer multiple collisions, losing kinetic energy and becoming thermalized prior to desorption into the gas phase. © 1995 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarized ultraviolet light from an excimer laser (193 nm) was used to photodesorb and photodissociate N2O adsorbed on a cold (80 K) Pt(111) surface. The photodesorbed species and their time of flight (TOF) were monitored by resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) spectroscopy. We have identified three major channels. The photodesorption of molecular N2 is observed only in the slowest channel where N2 produced by fragmenting the N2O is thermalized on the surface before desorbing. Evidence for this behavior includes both low (∼90 K) rotational and translational temperatures of the N2 fragments as well as a lack of correlation between rotational and translational energy. In the next fastest channel, hyperthermal N2O with a kinetic energy of 0.4±0.1 eV is seen to photodesorb. The photodesorbed hyperthermal N2O also has a substantial degree of internal vibrational excitation. The angular distribution of the N2O channel is peaked toward the surface normal. In the fastest channel, the release of ballistic oxygen atoms, a prompt axial recoil with no collisions with neighboring adsorbates, is seen along the tilted N2O molecular bond axis. The ballistic oxygen atoms leave the surface either in the ground state O(3P) or in the first electronically excited state O(1D). The kinetic energy of the O(3P) and of the O(1D) photoproducts is similar (0.5 eV) suggesting a common dissociative intermediate. In all of the channels observed, the dependence of the photoproducts yield on the polarization of the photodesorption laser indicates a hot carrier mediated mechanism at the surface. We propose a dissociative electron attachment model to explain the photochemistry of N2O/Pt(111) with 193 nm light. © 1995 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scattering of rotationally cold N2 from Ag(111) results in angular momentum alignment and orientation of the scattered molecules; measurement of the angular momentum polarization as a function of exit angle, final J state, and exit translation energy provides direct information on the dynamics of the collisions. In this paper, the orientation of the angular momentum vector of the scattered N2 molecules, A{1}1-(J) has been measured for slow, medium, and fast groups of molecules in single rotational states at fixed exit angles. With normal incidence scattering (θi=0°) and off-normal detection, for a given final J state, the ‘‘slow’’ molecules have a higher probability of tumbling backwards (‘‘back spin’’) than the ‘‘fast’’ molecules. Conversely, for glancing incidence scattering (θi=30°) with quasi-specular detection, the opposite trend is observed: the slow molecules have a higher probability of tumbling forwards (‘‘top spin’’) than the fast molecules. These experiments were simulated and analyzed using molecular dynamics trajectory calculations. The calculations show that the amount of gas kinetic energy transferred to the surface is sensitive to the narrow dispersion of impact sites and molecular orientations that lead to scattering into a given final rotational state at a given exit angle. The calculations demonstrate that for both incident angles, collisions near the top of a surface atom lead to slower final velocities than collisions with the hollow sites in analogy with the simple case of two colliding spheres. Therefore, the experimentally observed dependence of the angular momentum orientation on the exit velocity results from the correlation between the initial molecular bond angle and the impact site for scattering into a given J state and at a fixed exit angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A monolithic compound semiconductor phototransducer optimized for narrow-band light sources was designed for achieving conversion efficiencies exceeding 50%. The III-V heterostructure was grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, based on the vertical stacking of 5 partially absorbing GaAs n/p junctions connected in series with tunnel junctions. The thicknesses of the p-type base layers of the diodes were engineered for optimal absorption and current matching for an optical input with wavelengths centered near 830 nm. Devices with active areas of ~3.4mm2 were fabricated and tested with different emitter gridline spacings. The open circuit voltage (Voc) of the electrical output is five times or more than that of a single GaAs n/p junction under similar illumination. The device architecture allows for improved Voc generation in the individual base segments because of efficient carrier extraction while simultaneously maintaining a complete absorption of the input photons with no needs for complicated fabrication processes or reflecting layers.With illumination powers in the range of a few 100 mW, the measured fill factor (FF) varied between 88 and 89%, and the Voc reached over 5.75 V. The data also demonstrated that a proper combination of highly doped emitter and window layers without gridlines is adequate for sustaining such FF values for optical input powers of several hundred milliwatts. As the optical input power is further increased and approaches 2W (intensities ~58 W/cm2), the multiple tunnel junctions sequentially exceed their peak current densities in the case for which typical (n++)GaInP/ (p++)AlGaAs concentrated photovoltaic tunnel junctions are used. Lower bandgap tunnel junctions designed with improved peak current densities result in phototransducer devices having high FF and conversion efficiencies for up to 5W optical input powers (intensities ~144W/cm²). Measurements at different temperatures revealed a Voc reduction of 6mV/°C at ~59W/cm². [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance optical power converters (OPCs) enable isolated electrical power and power beaming applications at new wavelengths and higher output powers. Broadcom's vertical epitaxial heterostructure architecture (VEHSA) multi-junction OPCs permit optical-to-electrical conversion at high efficiency and at manageable external loads. This study provides details of how the power outputs have been extended from <1 W to a power class at ~3 W and another class at >20 W. The work also provides details of how the spectral range options have been extended from 800–830 nm to other key laser diode wavelengths such as 960–990 nm and 1500–1600 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]