APPLICATIONS OF ULTRA-HIGH SOLAR FLUX

Nonimaging optics provides a means of concentrating light to intensiti es approaching the theoretical limit. In experiments at the University of Chicago, we measured a concentration of 84,000 using a sapphire co ncentrator. We are currently scaling up our experiments at the Nationa l Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Our goals include a ) measuring 50,000 suns using a borosilicate concentrator with total p ower collected approaching one kW, b) producing fullerenes by vaporizi ng carbon, and c) pumping solid state lasers using a side-pumping arra ngement. Preliminary results indicate that we have delivered 50,000 su ns through an aperture using a concentrator of unique design. In this paper, we report on this measurement and current designs for fullerene production and laser pumping.