Frikkin lasers

[gifdy]

Did anyone listen to the Life Scientific with Alf Adams ? Great story about his work on strained quantum well lasers. Amazing the impact they have on our everyday lives yet he made no money from it and is virtually unknown outside his scientific community.

Anyway, does anyone know if the same effect is used in solar cells ? If it can greatly increase the power and efficiency of semiconductor lasers ( electricity to light ) then does it work in reverse ( light to electricity ) ? Just wondering .....

[Halmyre]

gifdy said:

Did anyone listen to the Life Scientific with Alf Adams ? Great story about his work on strained quantum well lasers. Amazing the impact they have on our everyday lives yet he made no money from it and is virtually unknown outside his scientific community.

Anyway, does anyone know if the same effect is used in solar cells ? If it can greatly increase the power and efficiency of semiconductor lasers ( electricity to light ) then does it work in reverse ( light to electricity ) ? Just wondering .....

No, because sunlight has such a broad spectrum. By it's nature a quantum well detector would work at a very precise wavelength but then you wouldn't get much out of it, and most of the examples out there work in the infra-red only.

[PRTVR]

gifdy said:

Did anyone listen to the Life Scientific with Alf Adams ? Great story about his work on strained quantum well lasers. Amazing the impact they have on our everyday lives yet he made no money from it and is virtually unknown outside his scientific community.

Anyway, does anyone know if the same effect is used in solar cells ? If it can greatly increase the power and efficiency of semiconductor lasers ( electricity to light ) then does it work in reverse ( light to electricity ) ? Just wondering .....

I listened to the program, very interesting, fascinating how started off re-doing old experiments and found that they were wrong, goes on to develop a laser that in use in most homes in the UK.

[gifdy]

Halmyre said:

No, because sunlight has such a broad spectrum. By it's nature a quantum well detector would work at a very precise wavelength but then you wouldn't get much out of it, and most of the examples out there work in the infra-red only.

Thanks, I'll rip up that patent form then

Chatting to the missus about this last night - turns out Alf Adams is one of her friend's dad !! What a small world it is.

[Simpo Two]

Alf Adams, Tommy Flowers - any other Britons who have made amazing advances quietly in their potting shed using only cotton reels and string?

[Spunagain]

Frank Whittle and the jet engine?
From Wikipedia:
Without Air Ministry support, he and two retired RAF servicemen formed Power Jets Ltd to build his engine with assistance from the firm of British Thomson-Houston. Despite limited funding, a prototype was created, which first ran in 1937. Official interest was forthcoming following this success, with contracts being placed to develop further engines.