Newport Spectra-Physics Newsletter - #29 - February 2009 - (Page 19)

w w w. n e w p o r t . c o m February 2009 Page 19 Application Story Measuring the “SUN” with A Newport Optical Power Meter A thermopile detector can prove to be a useful tool when the calibration standards required by photovoltaic standards bodies are not critical. At AM1.5G condition, 1 sun is defined to be equal to 100 mW/cm2 of irradiance. Newport’s optical power meter provides NIST traceable optical measurements and allows the active detector area setting for an irradiance measurement. The firmware then converts the irradiance unit to the sun. Other solar conditions such as AM0 and AM1.0 all have equivalent irradiance value defined, thus they can be handled via setting a correction factor, also available in Newport power meters. 1.6 IRRADIANCE (W.m-2.nm-1) 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 ASTM 891, AM 1.5 DIRECT 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 WAVELENGTH (nm) ASTM 892, AM 1.5 GLOBAL Traditionally, measuring the “SUN” for photovoltaic applications has been achieved using a silicon solar cell. A solar cell is calibrated at a calibration house, such as NREL, and it is used as a reference to calibrate a solar simulator. Most terrestrial solar cells are tested under the global AM (air mass) 1.5G (global) condition. It would be ideal to maintain a calibrated solar cell in the lab all the time, but this can be fairly expensive. Besides, as more researchers look into different materials than silicon and the other traditional thin film materials, the limitation of the silicon based reference cells sometimes can be an issue, especially when the importance of the photons outside 400–1100 nm wavelength regions is high. ZENITH In addition, lasers and other light sources in photovoltaics research become common, and thermal detectors can be used to measure their power level in most cases. The sun unit is now available with Newport power meter models 1918-C, 1928-C, and 1936-C/2936-C. For low sun values, up to 10 suns, model 818P-001-12 is recommended due to its high sensitivity, but most other models can work as well. Please contact Newport for thermal detector selections that fit your applications. AM P/P0 = sec θz AM 2.0 60.1° AM 1.5 48.2° AM 0 θz - ZENITH ANGLE ATMOSPHERE AM 1.0 EARTH WEB 1918-C 1928-C 1936-C/2936-C See our website for more info. Please click on the photo MAKE LIGHT | MANAGE LIGHT | MEASURE LIGHT http://www.newport.com http://www.newport.com/744081/1033/catalog.aspx http://www.newport.com/509478/1033/catalog.aspx http://www.newport.com/store/genproduct.aspx?id=845878&lang=1033&Section=Pricing http://www.newport.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Newport Spectra-Physics Newsletter - #29 - February 2009

Cover & Contents
Customer Focus
- Surpassing Space Boundaries
Corporate News
- Application Laboratory for Innovative Solutions in Photovoltaics
- Newport Offers Limited Edition Optical Tables to Celebrate 40th Anniversary
Product News : Lasers
MAKE LIGHT
- Mai Tai® eHP DeepSee
- Spectra-Physics Expanded Ultrafast Amplifier Portfolio
- Scan Series
- Allegro
- Hippo™ 1064-27
- Explorer® 532-2
- Excelsior®
- Oriel® Sol3A™
MANAGE LIGHT
- NanoPositioning Range of Piezo-Electrical Actuated Devices
- Newport Makes Hexapod Motion Affordable
- TRA Series
- Agilis™
- New Optics for Ultrafast Laser Applications
- Circular Variable ND Filters
- Low GVD 50/50 Ultrafast
MEASURE LIGHT
- 5700 Series
- 1928-C
- Measuring the “SUN” with A Newport Optical Power Meter
Literature request
Events

Newport Spectra-Physics Newsletter - #29 - February 2009