http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/new-laser-material-could-make-solar-energy-harvesting-more-efficient/article8491532.ece
New laser material could make solar energy harvesting more efficient
A team of IISc researchers have designed this nanocrystalline
material.
A new laser material designed by scientists at the Indian Institute of
Science (IISc) could change the way solar energy is harvested and make
solar power generation more efficient.
Unlike an ordinary flashlight, lasers can generate an intense, narrow
beam of light of a single colour. Professor Ayush Pandey and his team
of researchers at the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of
IISc have succeeded in designing a nanocrystalline material which can
emit a concentrated beam of light from a smaller amount of light than
ordinary lasers.
This material requires the lowest reported amounts of energy to start
working as a laser. 𨧻t can thus convert extremely low energies of
light into a laser beam,�Dr. Pandey said.
It is also capable of absorbing a wide range of colours of light,
meaning that in the future, one could take a source like a light bulb
and turn it into a laser beam, he added.
孏his material can emit a weaker beam of light in a specific
direction, which is not possible with most existing lasers,�he said.
Laser materials existing today need a very powerful light source to
work.
One of the possible applications of the discovery could be in solar
power harvesting. The material can absorb a larger fraction of light
from a source like sunlight, and emit it in a specific direction.
Having light coming from a specific direction makes it easier to
harvested by solar cells.
This is one of the possible applications for the discovery, Dr. Pandey
added. This material requires the lowest reported amounts of energy to
start working as a laser.
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