After Gutenberg

June 2008 was the last AG post that emphasized (Yeah, I know, you thought I was going to say ‘focussed upon’) improving solar power by the use of optics.

Anywho, Future Pundit Randall Parker tells us that “researchers at Rice University have created a material that collects light from any direction and emits it in a single direction. The ‘meta-material’ uses very tiny, cup-shaped particles. How tiny? They are so tiny that some pundit called them nanocups.

Anyhow, such nanocup material “could light the way toward high-powered optics, ultra-efficient solar cells and even cloaking devices.” FP suggests that solar thermal concentrators could be more efficient at capturing light.

Metallic nanostructures with geometry-dependent optical resonances demonstrate the “ability to manipulate light in ways not possible with conventional optical materials.” Researchers describe creating optical frequency “magnetic plasmon” responses of comparable magnitude to the “electric plasmon” response. Halas and Mirin say that gold nanocups have the unique ability to redirect scattered light in a direction dependent on cup orientation, and that such magnetoinductive resonance creates true, three-dimensional nanoantenna.”

Furthermore, since nanocups focus light from any direction, Parker notes they could help in areas or conditions that restrict insolation. It would “avoid the problem of lost concentrated solar efficiency due to diffuse light caused by airborne sulfur aerosols.”

Naomi Halas, an award-winning pioneer in nanophotonics, and graduate student Nikolay Mirin believe that they have a good thing.

Because nanocup ensembles can focus light in a specific direction no matter where the incident light is coming, they make pretty good candidates for, say, thermal solar power. A solar panel that doesn’t have to track the sun yet focuses light into a beam that’s always on target would save a lot of money on machinery.

Solar-generated power of all kinds would benefit, said Halas. “In solar cells, about 80 percent of the light passes right through the device. And there’s a huge amount of interest in making cells as thin as possible for many reasons.”

Halas said the thinner a cell gets, the more transparent it becomes. “So ways in which you can divert light into the active region of the device can be very useful. That’s a direction that needs to be pursued,” she said.