SiC wafers can be offered for laser power converter researches, additional information please refer to https://www.powerwaywafer.com/sic-wafer/sic-wafer-substrate.html. Any questions please contact our sales team with victorchan@powerwaywafer.com.

The current high-power laser transmission technology faces two major limitations in improving the efficiency of optoelectronic receivers: inherent entropy loss associated with low bandgap materials (such as GaAs) and series resistance loss that reduces device performance at high power densities. The new architecture using high bandgap materials and laser power converters (LPCs) has been seen as an alternative solution to overcome these limitations.

Researchers have for the first time combined the use of high bandgap materials and vertical epitaxial heterostructure architecture(VEHSA) structures as two strategies to improve high-power laser transmission technology. To this end, the applicability of 3C, 4H, and 6H SiC polycrystalline materials as commonly used basic materials for horizontal laser power converter (hLPC) structures was explored. Optimized the hLPC structure with an input power density range of 1-1000Wcm^-2. All polycrystalline types outperform the current experimental LPC’s best performance, and the efficiency of hLPC based on 3C-SiC is higher than other polycrystalline types at all tested input power densities. The results indicate that VEHSA performs better than the hLPC structure in all input power ranges, due to the decrease in current, which can increase the height of these devices and absorb larger beams than the hLPC structure. In the hLPC structure, the diffusion length of charge carriers is one of the main limiting factors. In addition, increasing the number of VEHSA batteries can also reduce the losses caused by the Joule effect. At high laser power densities, VEHSA with 2 batteries is affected by series resistance losses. Compared with VEHSA with 4 batteries, the efficiency decreases by 1.6% and 3.6% at 1000 W cm^-2 and 3000 W cm^-2, respectively. However, at these laser power densities, the efficiency of VEHSA with 2 batteries is 5% and 11.3% higher than that of hLPC, respectively. At 3000 W cm cm^-2, the efficiency of VEHSA with 4 batteries is 87.4%.

Fig. 1 Relationship between efficiency and temperature of three hLPC SiC polytype materials optimized under 1000 W cm^-2 condition

Fig. 2 Relationship between efficiency and input power density (Pin) of 3C-SiC based devices using hLPC architecture and VEHSA with 2, 3, and 4 batteries. This includes the GaAs VEHSA-5 experimental device with the best performance.

It is worth noting that the future adoption of high-power laser transmission technology may face challenges, such as the need for a straight line from the laser source to the target (unless using fiber optics), high laser power attenuation that may exist in media such as air (lower than traditional gallium arsenide based LPC in SiC), and the impact of using high-power lasers working in visible light environments on eye safety (which can be addressed through customized automatic laser shutdown and automatic power reduction systems).

Although the performance of true LPC based on SiC may be affected by manufacturing issues, the displayed results indicate that the combination of 3C-SiC and VEHSA architecture is a beneficial supplement, opening up a promising path for efficient transmission of ultra-high laser power density. The proposed technology has created a new paradigm shift that can transmit power density of up to kilowatts per square centimeter over long distances through media such as ground atmosphere (providing power for aerial drones, remote sensors, and robots), water (for underwater autonomous vehicles), or outer space (for rovers and satellites).

For more information, please contact us email at victorchan@powerwaywafer.com and powerwaymaterial@gmail.com.