Abstract

Solar-pumped lasers are natural candidates for applications where sunlight is plentiful and few other energy sources are available. Since the first report of “A sun-pumped cw one-watt laser” in 1966 [1], optical and laser material advances have continued to improve solar laser performance. Parabolic mirrors have long been explored to achieve tight focusing of incoming solar radiation. However, their use for solar laser researches has been neglected in recent years due to the increased interests in large-size Fresnel lenses. Fresnel lens is cost-effective, but it causes the dispersion of the solar radiation along its focal zone, hampering the efficient light concentration to the laser rod. It is therefore valuable for us to carry out the solar laser research with parabolic mirrors. A new progress in both solar laser collection efficiency and slope efficiency with heliostat - parabolic mirror system is reported here.

© 2015 IEEE