Feasibility of an iodine gas laser pumped by concentrated terrestrial solar radiation

Conference · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:113339

Terry, C K; Peterson, J E; Goswami, D Y ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

A t-C{sub 4}F{sub 9}I iodine gas laser pumped by terrestrial sunlight was analyzed. Lasant properties, spectral terrestrial insolation data, and established laser fundamentals were used to develop a mathematical model of a terrestrial solar-pumped system. Threshold pumping power and available terrestrial pumping power were predicted and used to estimate the solar concentration required to initiate lasing. Laser output power was also predicted. Because this lasant is relatively new and has never been pumped by solar radiation, many physical properties are not well known. An uncertainty analysis was used to predict errors in threshold solar concentration and output power. In all cases, conservative estimates of physical properties were used. The dominant uncertainty in both threshold and output predictions was due to wide variation in published values of the quenching reaction caused by the lasant parent molecule. Several optical and geometric configurations were devised using commercially available primary solar collectors: parabolic or compound parabolic troughs, a Shenandoah-type 7.5 meter diameter parabolic dishes, or a 17 meter diameter stretched membrane dish. Threshold solar concentration for these systems ranged from below 50 to almost 200 suns depending on the laser tube geometry. Output power ranged from below 1 Watt to almost 90 Watts, and was a function of primary collector dimension.

• OSTI ID: 113339
• Report Number(s): CONF-950336--; ISBN 0-7918-1300-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
CONCENTRATION RATIO
GAS LASERS
OPTICAL PUMPING
PARABOLIC DISH COLLECTORS
PARABOLIC TROUGH COLLECTORS