Laser power converter architectures based on 3C-SiC with efficiencies >80%

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Fernández Lozano, Javier, Seoane Iglesias, Natalia, Comesaña Figueroa, Enrique, Almonacid, Florencia, Fernández , Eduardo, García Loureiro, Antonio Jesús
Format: article
Publication Date:2022
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
Repository:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/45398
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10347/45398
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:3C-SiC
High power densities
Laser power converters
Vertical structures
Wireless power transfer
2203 Electrónica
Description
Summary: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