Advances in Solar-Pumped Laser Efficiency and Brightness

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Advances in Solar-Pumped Laser Efficiency and Brightness Joana Isabel Lázaro Almeida Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica Advances in solar-pumped laser efficiency and brightness Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutoramento Engenharia Física Orientador: Dawei Liang, Professor auxiliar, Universidade Nova de Lisboa Júri: Presidente: Prof. Doutora Maria Adelaide de Almeida Pedro de Jesus Arguente(s): Prof. Doutor Zhao Changming Prof. Doutor Gonçalo Nuno Marmelo Foito Figueira Vogais: Prof. Doutor José Luís Campos de Oliveira Santos Prof. Doutora Maria Adelaide de Almeida Pedro de Jesus Prof. Doutor Dawei Liang Prof. Doutor Pedro Manuel Cardoso Vieira Setembro, 2017 Advances in solar-pumped laser efficiency and brightness Copyright ©Joana Isabel Lázaro Almeida, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon. The Faculty of Sciences and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon have the right, perpetual and without geographical boundaries, to file and publish this dissertation through printed copies reproduced on paper or on digital form, or by any other means known or that may be invented, and to disseminate through scientificfic repositories and admit its copying and distribution for non- commercial, educational or research purposes, as long as credit is given to the author and editor. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This long journey would not have been possible without the help and support from many people. So, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to: Firstly, my advisor Prof. Dawei Liang, who has been a tremendous mentor to me. I would like to thank for his constant support, dedication, and friendship demonstrated during all these years. This was a rewarding experience, not only at scientific level but also at personal level, that will influence me throughout my life, for which I thank you for this great opportunity. My thesis committee members: Prof. Adelaide Jesus and Prof. Gonçalo Figueira, for their insightful comments and suggestions from various perspectives. Dr. Emmanuel Guillot. As a SFERA and SFERA2 (FP7) European project PROMES-CNRS coordinator, he provided the opportunity to access the PROMES-CNRS solar facilities, which was crucial to conduct some of researches. My colleagues in the Solar Laser Laboratory, in particular for Dário Garcia and Cláudia Vistas, for their valuable support and honest acquaintanceship. Prof. Adelaide Jesus and Dr. Fernando Santana, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology of NOVA University of Lisbon, for their priceless help in choosing wisely the NOVA solar facility site within our University campus and support during its construction process. My sincere thanks also goes to Prof. José Paulo Santos and Prof. Paulo Limão for their valuable support in the post- construction of the NOVA facility. Science and Technology Foundation of Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, for the attribution of the PhD fellowship. Faculty of Science and Technology of NOVA University of Lisbon for the welcome as a PhD student. It was an honor to be able to grow up at this prestigious institution. Prof. Luisa Carvalho for her optimism and encouragement, at both professional and personal level. I would like to thank for the precious support when times got tough. My parents and brother for all the sacrifices that have made on my behalf. My deepest gratitude to my mother, for her shoulder and constant love, not only throughout this phase, but also throughout my life. I am also grateful to my family, with no blood ties, for all their unconditional support and friendship. My beloved life partner, César, for his dedication, patience and love during all these years. You make my life complete. Those who helped me to wake up to life, get up and fight when life played tricks. I' am eternally grateful to all of you. V VI ABSTRACT Advances in both solar-pumped laser efficiency and brightness are herein presented. Several solar laser prototypes with both end-side-pumping and side-pumping configurations were studied and developed to efficiently pump small diameter Nd:YAG laser rods, leading to substantial increase in solar laser collection efficiency and brightness, which have gained international recognitions. All the design parameters were optimized in ZEMAX© non-sequential ray-tracing software. LASCAD© laser cavity analysis software was then used to optimize the laser resonator parameters. Based on the numerically optimization of the solar laser system, the solar laser prototypes were designed and built in Lisbon. Solar energy collection and concentration were achieved through the PROMES-CNRS heliostat-parabolic system, NOVA Fresnel lens system, and the recently new NOVA heliostat-parabolic system. Measurements of the solar input / laser output performance, beam quality M2 factors, and laser beam profiles for both multimode and fundamental mode regime were performed and compared with that of the numerical results. 13.9 W/m2 solar laser collection efficiency was achieved in 2013, through PROMES heliostat- parabolic mirror system, by end-side-pumping a 5 mm diameter, 25 mm length Nd:YAG laser rod. This result was further increased to 21.1 W/m2, in 2015, within the same solar facility. In 2016, 25 W/m2 collection efficiency was reported, by end-side-pumping a thinner laser rod through NOVA heliostat-parabolic mirror system. In addition to the enhancement of solar laser collection efficiency, the thermal performance of end-side-pumped solar laser was also substantially improved. In 2017, record solar laser collection efficiency of 31.5 W/m2 was reported by end-side- pumping a 4 mm diameter, 35 mm length Nd:YAG laser rod in PROMES-CNRS heliostat- parabolic mirror system. Also, record slope efficiency of 8.9% was achieved. A substantial progress in solar laser beam brightness with Fresnel lens was reported in 2013, through the first TEM00-mode solar laser. 1.9 W solar laser brightness was registered, being 6.6 times more than the previous record. The adoption of an asymmetric laser resonator, for maximum extraction of TEM00-mode solar laser, was also essential for improving significantly the solar laser brightness. By side-pumping a 3 mm diameter, 30 mm length Nd:YAG rod with a double-stage rectangular light guide / 2D-CPC concentrator, 4.0 W solar laser brightness was reported in 2015, doubling the previous record with Fresnel lens. TEM00-mode solar laser collection efficiency of 4.0 W/m2 was obtained by side-pumping a Nd:YAG grooved rod in 2016. Most recently, by end- side-pumping a 4 mm diameter, 35 mm length, Nd:YAG rod, the TEM00 mode solar laser collection efficiency was almost doubled, reaching 7.9 W/m2. Record-high solar laser brightness of 6.5 W was also achieved. Advances in solar laser beam stability were also achieved by developing sculptured twisted light guides for efficient uniform redistribution of pump light into a thin and long laser rod. In addition to this, we were also able to demonstrate the first emission of doughnut shaped solar laser beam, which may widen the applications areas of solar-pumped lasers. The research efforts performed during this work for enhancing both solar laser efficiency and beam brightness are explained. Experimental results are discussed and future suggestions are proposed. VII VIII RESUMO Nesta dissertação são apresentados os avanços na eficiência e brilho de laser bombeado por luz solar. Vários protótipos de laser solar, com configurações de bombeamento longitudinal e lateral, foram estudados e desenvolvidos para bombear eficientemente cilindros de Nd:YAG de pequeno diâmetro, levando a um aumento substancial da eficiência de colecção e brilho de laser solar, tendo ganho reconhecimento internacional. Os parâmetros do desenho dos protótipos foram optimizados no software de traçado de raios não-sequencial ZEMAX©. Por sua vez, os parâmetros da cavidade de ressonância foram optimizados pelo software de análise de cavidade laser LASCAD©. Com base na optimização numérica do sistema de laser solar, os protótipos foram então projectados e construidos. Para colectar e concentrar a energia solar para bombeamento foram utilizados os sistemas: heliostato - espelho parabólico de PROMES-CNRS, lente de Fresnel da NOVA, e heliostato - espelho parabólico da NOVA, recentemente construído. Em termos experimentais, foram efectuadas medições do desempenho da potência de laser em função da potência de bombeamento, factores M2 de qualidade do feixe laser, e perfil do feixe laser, em regime multimodo e de modo fundamental. As medições experimentais desenvolvidas foram também comparadas com os resultados numéricos. Laser solar com eficiência de coleção de 13.9 W/m2 foi conseguido em 2013, utilizando uma cavidade laser com configuração de bombeamento longitudinal - lateral para bombear um cilindro de Nd:YAG com 5 mm de diâmetro e 25 mm de comprimento, no sistema de heliostato - espelho parabólico de PROMES-CNRS. Este resultado foi posteriormente melhorado para 21.1 W/m2, em 2015, na mesma instalação de energia solar. Em 2016, 25 W/m2 de eficiência de coleção foi registado, utilizando uma cavidade laser com configuração de bombeamento longitudinal - lateral para bombear um cilindro fino, no sistema heliostato - espelho parabólico da NOVA. Além do aumento da eficiência de coleção, o desempenho térmico do laser solar com este tipo de configuração foi melhorado substancialmente. Em 2017, foi conseguida uma eficiência de coleção recorde de 31.5 W/m2, através do bombeamento longitudinal - lateral de um cilindro de Nd:YAG de 4 mm de diâmetro e 35 mm de comprimento, no sistema de heliostato - espelho parabólico de PROMES-CNRS. Foi também registada uma eficiência de declive recorde de 8.9%. Em 2013, foi conseguido um progresso substancial em brilho de laser solar com lente de Fresnel, através do primeiro laser solar de modo TEM00. 1.9 W de brilho de laser solar, 6.6 vezes maior que o recorde anterior, foi registado. A utilização de cavidade de ressonância assimétrica para máxima extracção de laser de modo TEM00 foi também essencial para melhorar significativamente o brilho de laser solar. Através do bombeamento lateral de um cilindro de Nd:YAG com 3 mm de diâmetro e 30 mm de comprimento, foi registado 4.0 W em brilho de laser, em 2015, duplicando o recorde anterior com lente de Fresnel.
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