Principles of Light-Cascade and Frequency-Shifting Materials
LPRL’s patented ‘light-cascade’ technology is based on impregnating optically active molecules or crystal particles into a host material. The optically active materials are chosen according to their absorption bands and red-shifted emission bands.
Figure 1 shows a
schematic representation of the light-cascade concept. The light-cascade material shifts the incoming radiation from the blue portion of the spectrum toward the red, for example, to better match the absorption spectrum of photovoltaic cells.
Figure 1: Schematic illustrating the light-cascade concept.
The figure below illustrates how the light is trapped via total internal reflection in the encapsulating material. This effect increases the interaction length of the light in the material, which leads to an increase in the yield of the target wavelength and in increase in photovoltaic efficiency.
Figure 2: Total internal reflection enhances the yield of the light cascade effect.
The light-cascade technology can be used, for example, to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells or to increase the yield of plants grown in greenhouses.
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Figure 3
: Solar spectrum
transformed by light cascade panel.
