Theoretical analysis of a 60  W solar-pumped single crystal fiber laser

Abstract

In order to improve the output power of solar-pumped single-crystal fiber (SCF) lasers, we propose a novel solar concentrating system, to the best of our knowledge, consisting of a parabolic mirror, a 3D compound parabolic concentrator, and a hollow-core reflector. By ray tracing with TracePro, the influence of the fiber’s diameter and the hollow reflector’s shape on the solar absorption efficiency is theoretically investigated. A typical Nd:YAG SCF with a core diameter of 1 mm, length of 150 mm, and doping concentration of 1 at.% is selected for a simulation of laser operation. The output characteristics of the laser are analyzed by solving the rate equation and power transmission equation; the maximum output power and solar-to-laser conversion efficiency are 60.62 W and 4.64%, respectively. The thermal effects of the laser are simulated by Comsol software. When the input solar power is 1307.4 W, the temperature decreases sharply first and then saturates along the SCF fiber, with the maximum value of 69.18°C at the input fiber end. This concentrating system can effectively overcome the limitation of end-launching solar power into SCFs and has great potential in improving the output power of solar fiber lasers.

Simulation of solar-pumped multicore Nd3+-doped silica fiber lasers

“…Numerical calculations have shown that an additional 2.2 times improvement can be achieved compared to liquid LSC. 28 Pengfei Xiang et al 29 numerically studied a thin Nd:YAG single crystal of a 1 mm diameter, 150 mm length, and with an input solar power of 1307.4 W at the entrance of secondary concentrator claiming a maximum output power of 60.62 W. They achieved that the efficiency of converting sunlight into a laser beam is 4.64%. To do this, they used a parabolic mirror as the primary concentrator, a 3D compound parabolic concentrator as the secondary concentrator, and a hollow reflector as a pump chamber.…”

Solar side-pumped Nd-doped fiber laser based on a doughnut-shaped hollow reflector

“…Making efficient use of solar energy is an urgent need for the sustainable development of the world. Solar-pumped laser (SPL) is a device that uses sunlight as the energy source to achieve laser output with high efficiencies and low costs [1][2][3][4][5]. Rare-earth-doped fibers are excellent gain media for SPLs due * Authors to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”