how come solar calculators do not power on with lasers?

5 Responses to how come solar calculators do not power on with lasers?

1. drchristian | March 10, 2010 at 10:21 am |

   because they reflect it?

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2. wisdomink | March 10, 2010 at 11:13 am |

   Depends on the type of laser you are using and the amount of energy it exerts in terms of wavelength as sunlight may have more energy and a different wavelength than the laser. I’ve enclosed a link from NASA – laser beamed power…

   http://powerweb.grc.nasa.gov/pvsee/publications/lasers/IAF92_0600.html

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3. injanier | March 10, 2010 at 12:16 pm |

   There’s a limit to how much power a given spot on the solar cell can produce. With the laser light all concentrated on one spot, the cell saturates and you don’t get as much power as you would if the light was spread out over the whole face.

   http://powerweb.grc.nasa.gov/pvsee/publications/lasers/IAF92_0600.html

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4. rhsaunders | March 10, 2010 at 1:14 pm |

   The laser light is the wrong color. You probably are using a red laser because they are most common. But red photons don’t have enough energy to operate a solar cell. If you can find an argon laser (green light), it would probably work: the photons are more energetic.

   http://powerweb.grc.nasa.gov/pvsee/publications/lasers/IAF92_0600.html

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5. idiuss | March 10, 2010 at 2:12 pm |

   you’re probably using a red laser…and it’s probably a rather low power red laser at that…a few mW. If you tried a shorter wavelength, higher power laser you would be able to power the calculator.

   http://powerweb.grc.nasa.gov/pvsee/publications/lasers/IAF92_0600.html

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