| dc.description.abstract | With glass processing methodologies improving, namely femtosecond laser irradiated assisted chemical etching (FLICE), freeform fused silica structures having micron level features are becoming increasingly more feasible to physically realize. One application of this technology is the creation of light pipes for solar concentrators, as fused silica offers significantly higher transmission and damage threshold properties over that of comparable polymer-based structures for the same purpose without suffering from related photodegradation pathways. As such fused silica structures having millimeter scale dimensions have not been widely used for such purposes due to their previous scarcity, the community is, in some ways, in its infancy in terms of adopting standardized light pipe characterization practices. The aim of this work is to identify major loss mechanisms of fused silica light pipes pertinent to their application as a solar concentrator, establish transmission testing practices while identifying critical measurement and assembly considerations, and to demonstrate the possibility of high throughput light pipe structures made out of fused silica. To achieve this, a custom test bench has been developed that includes the ability to launch light rays of a given source at an arbitrary angle and location on a given light pipe structure.
A fused silica rectangular prism light pipe 50 mm x 1 mm x 1 mm was shown to transmit, on average, > 90% (Fresnel reflection losses are not subtracted) of 514 nm center wavelength light launched at incidence angles from 0 to 25°. | en |
