Value chain · CLM-1111
In plain terms
Before this paper, the best near-infrared laser receivers reached about half efficiency, and only under very bright light; at gentler light they manage a fifth to a bit under a half. Receivers for shorter-wavelength light do better, nearly 69 per cent, but the paper prefers the near-infrared band on eye-safety and atmospheric grounds.
The claim as recorded
The paper's compilation of published 1.3-1.6 um photonic power converter efficiencies (Fig. 1a, references 20 to 33) runs from about 20 per cent at 0.25 W/cm2 to about 51 to 53 per cent at 5 to 80 W/cm2 before this work, with 1.3-1.5 um devices at the top (about 53 per cent near 6 to 15 W/cm2, about 51 per cent near 80 W/cm2) and devices above 1.5 um between about 32 and 45 per cent at 1 W/cm2 and above; below 1 W/cm2 the published values are 20 to 45 per cent. For the shorter-wavelength GaAs class the paper cites a record 68.9 per cent at 858 nm and centimetre-scale devices delivering tens of watts.
Evidence behind this: T2-a peer-reviewed paper's compilation of other papers' measured values, read from its figure; the record values are cited, not measured here.
Scope and limits
Every figure here is read from a plot at a quarter-decade in irradiance and a point in efficiency, and none of the underlying papers is held. Reference 29's title states "61% efficiency at 30 W output power" while the compilation plots [29] at about 51 per cent; the page does not say why (the title's figure may be at another wavelength or condition), and this record reports both without resolving them. The compilation is the authors' selection.
What it assumes
That the compilation's plotted values are the cited papers' values; none of references 20 to 33 is held and none was checked.
Where it comes from
p.2 Fig. 1a read from the zoom-5 crop (the figure has no text layer; axis, legend and marker labels are render readings): axes "PCE [%]" 20 to 60 and Irradiance [W/cm2] 0.01 to 100 (the axis prints the squared unit as a superscript); legend "Laser wavelength:" 1.3-1.4 um, 1.4-1.5 um, > 1.5 um (the legend prints the Greek mu); "this work" starred at about 27 W/cm2 and 56 per cent; [24] at about 6 W/cm2 and 53 per cent, [25] about 15 W/cm2 and 53, [29] about 80 W/cm2 and 51, [30] about 80 W/cm2 and 45, [21] and [33] about 0.1 W/cm2 and 44 to 45, [22] about 0.25 W/cm2 and 20, [20] about 0.045 W/cm2 and 24 (values read against the gridlines, to about 1 point and a quarter decade). p.2, normalised: "Figure 1(a) summarizes reported PCEs for PPCs operating in this spectral range". p.1, normalised: "Record values have been reported with GaAs devices, demonstrating a PCE of 68.9% at 858 nm"; depunctuated: "advances in device fabrication have enabled centimeter-scale PPCs to handle currents of tens of amperes and deliver tens of watts of electrical power". References at p.12: 11 is a 2021 GaAs paper titled for 68.9 per cent; 24 Beattie et al. 2023 (O-band); 25 Forcade et al. 2025 ("exceeding 50% efficiency in the short wavelength infrared"); 29 Fafard and Masson 2023.
Basis: power conversion efficiency, per cent, against irradiance in W/cm2, by wavelength band
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-002 not published in this releaseQST-036 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1111
CLM-1111, Energy Aperture, as of 2026.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-586
- CLM-1110The best near-infrared laser-to-electricity receiver so far turns 56 per cent of the light into electricity, but only when the light is 271...CLM-1112The paper says this colour of infrared is good because the air lets it through and the eye-safety rules allow more of it, but it cites...CLM-1113This paper does not describe a laser power satellite, though two NASA-funded designs for one exist from 1978-80. It does show how a laser...