A GA0.51IN0.49P GAAS BASED PHOTOVOLTAIC CONVERTER FOR 2-DIRECTIONAL OPTICAL POWER AND DATA-TRANSMISSION/

A GaAs-based photovoltaic converter for optical-to-electrical power co nversion and for data transmission was developed. The device structure is based on a modified GaAs solar cell structure having a lattice-mat ched Ga0.51In0.49P window layer. The converter consists of an array of series-connected photovoltaic cells. The input optical laser power is transmitted via a single optical multimode fibre anal distributed hom ogeneously to the separate cells. One of the cells has separate connec tions for acting as a light-emitting diode for data transmission in th e opposite direction. The conversion efficiency of the individual cell s was measured to be 49%, and the array conversion efficiency was 41%.