{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T07:15:11Z","timestamp":1773386111849,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,21]],"date-time":"2022-07-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1658361600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia\u2014Minist\u00e9rio da Ci\u00eancia, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["UIDB\/00068\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/00068\/2020"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Energies"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The efficiency potential of a small-size solar-pumped laser is studied here. The solar laser head was composed of a fused silica aspheric lens and a conical pump cavity, which coupled and redistributed the concentrated solar radiation from the focal zone of a parabolic mirror with an effective collection area of 0.293 m2 to end-side pump a Ce (0.1 at%):Nd (1.1 at%):YAG rod of 2.5 mm diameter and 25 mm length. Optimum solar laser design parameters were found through Zemax\u00a9 non-sequential ray-tracing and LASCAD\u2122 analysis. The utilization of the Ce:Nd:YAG medium with small diameter pumped by a small-scale solar concentrator was essential to significantly enhance the end-side pump solar laser efficiency and thermal performance. For 249 W incoming solar power at an irradiance of 850 W\/m2, 11.2 W multimode solar laser power was measured, corresponding to the record solar-to-laser power conversion efficiency of 4.50%, being, to the best of our knowledge, 1.22 times higher than the previous record. Moreover, the highest solar laser collection efficiency of 38.22 W\/m2 and slope efficiency of 6.8% were obtained, which are 1.18 and 1.02 times, respectively, higher than the previous records. The lowest threshold solar power of a Ce:Nd:YAG solar-pumped laser is also reported here.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/en15145292","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,21]],"date-time":"2022-07-21T10:36:56Z","timestamp":1658399816000},"page":"5292","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":38,"title":["Ce:Nd:YAG Solar Laser with 4.5% Solar-to-Laser Conversion Efficiency"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0244-8127","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"D\u00e1rio","family":"Garcia","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Physics and Technological Research, Departamento de F\u00edsica, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4406-4108","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dawei","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Physics and Technological Research, Departamento de F\u00edsica, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Cl\u00e1udia R.","family":"Vistas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Physics and Technological Research, Departamento de F\u00edsica, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0591-5309","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hugo","family":"Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Physics and Technological Research, Departamento de F\u00edsica, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2888-718X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miguel","family":"Catela","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Physics and Technological Research, Departamento de F\u00edsica, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1951-2957","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bruno D.","family":"Tib\u00farcio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Physics and Technological Research, Departamento de F\u00edsica, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Joana","family":"Almeida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Physics and Technological Research, Departamento de F\u00edsica, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"The Global Goals (2022, April 01). 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Status Solidi A"}],"container-title":["Energies"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1996-1073\/15\/14\/5292\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T23:55:41Z","timestamp":1760140541000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1996-1073\/15\/14\/5292"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,21]]},"references-count":36,"journal-issue":{"issue":"14","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7]]}},"alternative-id":["en15145292"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/en15145292","relation":{},"ISSN":["1996-1073"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1996-1073","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,21]]}}}