Solar pumping of solid state lasers for space mission: a novel approach

Boetti, Nadia Giovanna; Lousteau, Joris; Negro, Davide; Mura, Emanuele; Scarpignato, Gerardo Cristian; Perrone, Guido; Milanese, Daniel; Abrate, S.

doi:10.1117/12.2309203

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

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“…In terms of the cost and maintenance, the solar laser has clear advantages over PV cell + diode-pumped or lamp-pumped laser approaches in space. Since the pump source is the Sun, shining nearly eternally in space, solar laser systems require little to no maintenance in terms of the pump source, making them an attractive option for long-lifetime space missions [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fresnel Lens Solar Pumping for Uniform and Stable Emission of Six Sustainable Laser Beams under Non-Continuous Solar Tracking

et al. 2023

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A multirod solar laser approach is here proposed to attain uniform and stable multibeam emission under non-continuous solar tracking. A Fresnel lens was used as the primary concentrator. The laser head was composed of a second-stage aspherical lens with a light-guide homogenizer and a third-stage conical pump cavity with six Nd:YAG rods. The solar laser system was optimized through numerical analysis in both Zemax® and LASCAD™ software to obtain six 1064 nm laser beams of similar multimode power. To investigate the effect of the homogenizer on the laser performance, the laser head was compared with a similar one that only used the aspherical lens in the second stage. The approach with the light guide attained a slightly lower efficiency than the one without the light guide; however, the tracking error width at 10% laser power loss was higher and, most importantly, only a 2.17% coefficient of variation of the laser power emitted by the six rods at the tracking error angle of ±0.5° was obtained. This is 4.2 times better than the 52.31% obtained with the laser head without the homogenizer and 76 times better than that of the previous numerical work. The light guide is thus essential to ensure uniform and stable solar laser power extraction from all rods even under non-continuous solar tracking, making this prototype the ideal for multibeam laser applications where uniformity and stability of the laser power are indispensable. This renewable multibeam solar laser may replace the classical lamp- and diode-pumped lasers, therefore ensuring a sustainable laser power production pattern for both space and terrestrial applications.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fresnel Lens Solar Pumping for Uniform and Stable Emission of Six Sustainable Laser Beams under Non-Continuous Solar Tracking

et al. 2023

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Optical properties and energy transfer performances in high quality Cr,Nd: YAG transparent laser ceramics for solar pumped lasers

Zhou

Cao

et al. 2022

Opt. Express

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Realizing a high solar light conversion magnitude in Cr,Nd: YAG transparent ceramic is crucial to its applications in solar pumped solid state lasers. In this study, high quality Cr,Nd:YAG transparent laser ceramics with homogeneous microstructure and theoretical transmittance were fabricated, and an efficient laser oscillation of watt-level was realized by pumping ceramic at 808 nm. There were no any characteristic absorptions corresponding to Cr2+ or Cr4+ ions detected, even when the Cr3+ ion doping concentration reached 0.6 at.%. Increasing Cr3+ and Nd3+ doping concentrations significantly enhanced the emission intensity of ceramics at 1.06 µm, and energy transfer efficiency of the 0.3 at.% Cr,Nd: YAG ceramics was increased from 14.9% to 36.9% when increasing Nd3+ ion concentration from 0.3 at.% to 1.0 at.%, with an increasing magnitude of 247.6%. The results indicated that Cr,Nd: YAG transparent ceramic is a promising gain medium for solar pumped solid state lasers.

show abstract

Solar pumping of solid state lasers for space mission: a novel approach

Cited by 2 publications

References 17 publications

Fresnel Lens Solar Pumping for Uniform and Stable Emission of Six Sustainable Laser Beams under Non-Continuous Solar Tracking

Fresnel Lens Solar Pumping for Uniform and Stable Emission of Six Sustainable Laser Beams under Non-Continuous Solar Tracking

Optical properties and energy transfer performances in high quality Cr,Nd: YAG transparent laser ceramics for solar pumped lasers

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