We report operation of a laser-diode side-pumped Nd: YAG laser with a novel pumping geometry that ensures efficient conversion of pump energy into the TEM(00) mode. Of the 1064-nm output, 11.8 mJ of energy was obtained in a 200-micros pulse with 64 mJ of pump energy at 808 nm. The overall conversion and slope efficiencies were 18% and 23%, respectively.

In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate the enhancement of the inhomogeneous second harmonic conversion in the opaque region of a GaAs cavity with efficiencies of the order of 0.1% at 612 nm, using 3 ps pump pulses having peak intensities of the order of 10 MW/cm(2). We show that the conversion efficiency of the inhomogeneous, phase-locked second harmonic component is a quadratic function...

We describe an experiment in which photon pairs from a pulsed parametric down-conversion (PDC) source were coupled into single-mode fibers with heralding efficiencies as high as 70%. Heralding efficiency or mode preparation efficiency is defined as the probability of finding a photon in a fiber in a definite state, given the detection of its twin. Heralding efficiencies were obtained for a rang...

Cyclometalated ruthenium sensitizers have been synthesized that differ with number of thiophene units on the auxiliary ligands. Sensitizers possessing four (SA25, SA246, and SA285) or none (SA282) sulfur atoms in their structures, were tested in solar cell devices employing I3-/I- redox mediator, enabling an estimation of the influence of sulfur-iodine/iodide interactions on dye-sensitized sola...

Arrays of III-V direct-bandgap semiconductor nanopillars represent promising photovoltaic candidates due to their inherent high optical absorption coefficients and minimized reflection arising from light trapping, efficient charge collection in the radial direction and the ability to synthesize them on low-cost platforms. However, the increased surface area results in surface states that hamper...

An all-solid-state, lightweight, flexible, and wearable polymer solar cell (PSC) textile with reasonable photovoltaic performance has been developed. A metal textile electrode made from micrometer-sized metal wires is used as the cathode, and the surfaces of the metal wires are dip-coated with the photoactive layers. Two ultrathin, transparent, and aligned carbon nanotube sheets that exhibit re...

We review recent progress towards increasing solar cell efficiencies beyond the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit. Four main approaches are highlighted: multi-junction cells, intermediate-band cells, hot carrier cells and spectrum conversion. Multi-junction cells use multiple solar cells that selectively absorb different regions of the solar spectrum. Intermediateband cells use one junction wi...