The modern world is surrounded by endless electronic devices and their mountains of cables and charging accessories.
However, for people living in remote or regional environments, telecom infrastructure can face tough obstacles in reaching these more isolated areas.
Nevertheless, researchers at the University of Ottawa have been developing a new laser power converter that can transmit electricity to remote destinations over long distances, even in the harshest environments.
Devices can currently run off power over fibre systems. These systems involve a fibre-optic cable which converts optical power into electrical power.
“In traditional power over fibre systems, most of the laser light is lost,” says Professor Karin Hinzer from the University of Ottawa’s SUNLAB, one of Canda’s leading solar cell research facilities.
This can restrict the length of fibre-optic cables, which can be an issue for remote locations in extreme environmental conditions.
“With these new devices, the fibre can be much longer.”
In collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany, SUNLAB researchers created a simulation model for photonic power converters at the infrared wavelengths used for telecommunications.
Photonic power converters are devices that convert laser light into electrical power via a fibre-optic cable.
“The fabricated device shows a dramatic improvement in power and data transmission over distances longer than a kilometre, where traditional systems are not viable,” says first author of the paper, Gavin Forcade.
The key to their findings was using multi-junction converters. These converters stack multiple semiconductor junctions on top of each other.
A semiconductor junction is the borderline of where a positively charged and a negatively charged semiconductor meet. This junction controls the electricity flow, absorbing the laser light and converting it into electric power.
Utilising the multi-junction design, the research team was able to produce 2 volts of electricity at its maximum point with over 53% efficiency.
In previous studies, single-junction converters, photonic power converters with only one layer, have achieved efficiency as high as 52.8% but only produced 0.6 volts.
While the team is hopeful that these developments can help lead to more reliable telecommunication networks, they also believe there could be other benefits.
“This could improve power to high voltage and monitoring sensors for smart grids without the risk of lightning faults,” says Hinzer.
“It could reduce sparking risks in hazardous environments and could potentially transmit power and data simultaneously to remote devices on existing fibre optic infrastructure.”
The researchers also say that this technology could have further applications in space powering things like drones, satellites and lunar vehicles.
The developments by the SUNLAB team and their colleagues are published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.