One of the latest breakthroughs in the field of optics and which would therefore have immense ramifications in the field of solar energy technology is possibly being scripted by a team of scientists currently working at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. This group of researchers who are at work in the field of transformation optics are currently working on manipulating light – refraction of light to be more specific. The research if actually successful would help concentrate solar rays into the solar cell where they would be stored until need be.
Invisibility cloak as it is being referred to by the scientists; this technology which is still in the nascent stage and hence which is being effected only on a piece of material that’s as tiny as half the width of the human hair involves using a laser beam to create a 3-D pattern on a polymer material. This pattern also known as “logs” resembles a wood pile and when red light of wavelength 700 nanometers is passed through it; it just gets refracted creating the illusion of abruptly disappearing from its projected path.
Since the angle of refraction is dependant on the thickness of the logs, researchers believe that if they modulate the resolution of this 3-D pattern using laser beams, the resultant log or for that matter the entire cloak in the distant future would be able to bend not just the red light in particular but the entire light spectrum as well. And, the end result would therefore be, a technology that involves creating an “optical black hole” with an increased efficiency for concentrating sun-rays into a solar cell. If successful, no doubt this technology would change the very dynamics of solar energy utilization.
Via: Inhabitat
