A Programmable Solar Simulator for Realistic Seasonal, Diurnal, and Air-Mass Testing of Multi-Junction Concentrator Photovoltaics

Published

June 4, 2016

Author(s)

Tasshi Dennis, chanud yasanayake, Tim Gerke, Alex Payne, Lars Eng, brent fisher, Matt Meitl

Abstract

We built a spectrally programmable super-continuum solar simulator and applied it to the realistic laboratory testing of a multi-junction concentrator solar cell. The novel simulator generated a broad range of illumination conditions representing changes in time of day, time of year, and air mass. The simulator utilized a spatially coherent, super-continuum laser as the light source and a hybrid pair of prism-based spectrometers with spatial light modulators to precisely control the spectrum. The enhanced spectral coverage of this simulator significantly reduced the spectral mismatch over previous implementations. Geometries for both focused as well as divergent sample illumination were considered, achieving irradiances of approximately 100 suns and 190 suns, respectively. The measured performance of the cell was compared favorably to predictions based on both measured and theoretical spectra and representative quantum efficiency curves.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

Conference Dates

June 6-10, 2016

Conference Location

Portland, OR, US

Conference Title

43rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

Pub Type

Conferences

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Citation

Dennis, T. , yasanayake, C. , Gerke, T. , Payne, A. , Eng, L. , Fisher, B. and Meitl, M. (2016), A Programmable Solar Simulator for Realistic Seasonal, Diurnal, and Air-Mass Testing of Multi-Junction Concentrator Photovoltaics, Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Portland, OR, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921010 (Accessed October 28, 2025)