Down-conversion phosphors based on ions of lanthanides can be used to convert UV/blue components of solar spectrum in near-infrared radiation more suitable for conventional silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells. Comparing to other down convertors, their advantages are long Stokes shift (>300 nm) excluding re-absorption, and environment safety. However, down-conversion efficiency remains an issue. The paper reports on synthesis and characterization of down-conversion phosphor based on lanthanide-doped fluoride NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+. The phosphor was synthesized using inexpensive wet method and further baked at ~500°C for 1 h to convert NaYF4 matrix from cubic to hexagonal phase. The obtained micro-powder was ball-milled to nano-powder. The phosphor demonstrated down-conversion radiation from 830 to 1100 nm attributed to Yb3+. The Stokes shift was ~600 nm. The intensity of NIR peak radiation increased three times with increasing concentration of Yb3+ from 3 to 14%. A thin-sheet down-convertor of a Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC) was made in the form of a projector Mylar transparency coated with nanocolloid of the phosphor in a solution of polymer PMMA in chlorobenzene. Such thin sheet improved by 15% the PV power produced by the LSC being illuminated with a solar simulator as compared to an incandescent light bulb. The obtained results can be used in building more efficient PV green power.
It has been a strong interest in the laser systems with segmented gain/loss with PT-symmetry properties. This paper shows that a fiber laser pumped from one end with a depleting pump meets the conditions of PT-symmetry in the vicinity of the turning point where the gain becomes equal to the loss. The real component of the square of the complex refractive index is symmetric with respect to the turning point while the imaginary part is anti-symmetric. When the gain grows, the laser becomes segmented into two regions with dominating gain or loss. The turning point starts moving towards the other end of the laser. It leads to the appearance, in addition to the laser mode evenly distributed over the entire laser cavity, of a mode that is pushed in the lossy region. The frequency of that mode is in resonance with the length of the lossy region. The experimental data for a 15-m long Erbium doped fiber laser correlated with such hypothesis. We also built a nanocolloid capillary optical amplifier using synthesized phosphor NaY0.83 F4: Yb3+0.14, Er3+0.03. The effect of upconversion emission in such amplifier leads to an additional channel for the pump depletion. This potentially can cause even stronger PT-symmetry effects in a laser based on such optical amplifier.
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