Taysir Nayfeh

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio

Brian Fast

Orbital Research, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio

Daniel Raible

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Dragos Dinca

Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Cleveland, Ohio

Nick Tollis and Andrew Jalics

QinetiQ North America, Cleveland, Ohio

High Intensity Laser Power Beaming Architecture 

for Space and Terrestrial Missions

NASA/TM—2011-217009

March 2011
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Taysir Nayfeh

Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio

Brian Fast

Orbital Research, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio

Daniel Raible

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Dragos Dinca

Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Cleveland, Ohio

Nick Tollis and Andrew Jalics

QinetiQ North America, Cleveland, Ohio

High Intensity Laser Power Beaming Architecture 

for Space and Terrestrial Missions

NASA/TM—2011-217009

March 2011

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Prepared for the

2010 Advanced Space Propulsion Workshop

cosponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the

NASA Glenn Research Center

Colorado Springs, Colorado, November 15–17, 2010
Acknowledgments

The Industrial Space Systems Lab team would like to express their thanks to Bernie Sater, Greenfi eld Solar, for the advice given 

to the ISSL from years of experience developing the Vertical Multi-Junction (VMJ) cells. Jim Soeder, Ray Beach, Fred Wolff and 

the NASA Glenn Research Center for supporting the efforts of the Industrial Space Systems Laboratory (ISSL). Ken Edwards and 

the Eglin Air Force Research Laboratory for the research partnership with the ISSL in further developing this technology. Hobson 

Lane, Bob Rice, and Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology division for the time and support given to the ISSL during the 

demonstration. NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program for supporting the publication and presentation 

of this research.

Available from

NASA Center for Aerospace Information

7115 Standard Drive

Hanover, MD 21076–1320

National Technical Information Service

5301 Shawnee Road

Alexandria, VA 22312

Available electronically at http://www.sti.nasa.gov

Trade names and trademarks are used in this report for identifi cation 

only. Their usage does not constitute an offi cial endorsement, 

either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration.

Level of Review: This material has been technically reviewed by technical management. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 1 

High Intensity Laser Power Beaming Architecture for 

Space and Terrestrial Missions 

Taysir Nayfeh 

Cleveland State University 

Cleveland, Ohio 44115 

Brian Fast 

Orbital Research, Inc. 

Cleveland, Ohio 44103 

Daniel Raible 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Glenn Research Center 

Cleveland, Ohio 44135 

Dragos Dinca 

Northrop Grumman Information Technology 

Cleveland, Ohio 44130 

Nick Tollis and Andrew Jalics 

QinetiQ North America 

Cleveland, Ohio 44135 

Abstract 

High Intensity Laser Power Beaming (HILPB) has been developed as a technique to achieve Wireless 

Power Transmission (WPT) for both space and terrestrial applications. In this paper, the system 

architecture and hardware results for a terrestrial application of HILPB are presented. These results 

demonstrate continuous conversion of high intensity optical energy at near-IR wavelengths directly to 

electrical energy at output power levels as high as 6.24 W from the single cell 0.8 cm2

 aperture receiver. 

These results are scalable, and may be realized by implementing receiver arraying and utilizing higher 

power source lasers. This type of system would enable long range optical “refueling” of electric 

platforms, such as MUAV’s, airships, robotic exploration missions and provide power to spacecraft 

platforms which may utilize it to drive electric means of propulsion. 

Introduction 

In the 20th century, it is inarguable that the use of wireless technologies has revolutionized the 

telecommunications industry. The effects of wireless systems are apparent in the development of space 

base assets that are used to communicate across the world. However, the direct use of wireless 

technologies has not had a significant impact on the power industries. A few applications have attempted 

to enter into this field on a small scale. For example, the use of inductive power transmission has been 

used for charging circuits in small hand held devices, and the use of microwave transmission has been the 

primary means of investigating the transmission of large amounts of power over longer distances. 

However, inductive power transmission is only effective over relatively short distances (cm) and 

microwave transmission is only effective over modest distances due to the decrease in the radiated energy 

density as a function of distance. The ability to transmit optical energy longer distances (km or more) via 

high intensity lasers makes it an attractive option for wireless power transmission. The primary challenge 

 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 2 

with High Intensity Laser Power Beaming (HILPB), and the one currently under investigation, is the 

receiver’s ability to efficiently convert the impinging optical energy to electrical energy under high levels 

of irradiance. 

The primary driver that has kept wireless power transmission from entering the market, as a 

mainstream enabling technology, is the cost per watt. However, there are several potential aerospace 

applications where HILPB would be one of only a few technologies that could be capable of 

accomplishing the specific mission. Two near term missions that have identified HILPB as a potential 

enabling technology is the Air Force’s desire to develop a perpetual flight UAV and NASA’s desire to 

explore the far side of the Moon. Each of these missions will require a significant amount of energy to be 

delivered remotely, which is a difficult problem. 

The proposed HILPB system consists of two halves, one for transmitting energy and one for receiving 

the energy. The ability to accurately transmit optical energy over long distances with lasers in a controlled 

fashion already exists in systems such as the Airborne Laser (ABL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) 

and free space laser communication systems for both terrestrial (aerial, ground, and maritime) and space 

environments. Lasers provide a means of beaming high intensity optical energy over long distances with 

narrow beam divergence. The primary missing component for HILPB has been the receiver which would 

provide the ability to effectively convert the photonic energy directly to usable electrical energy. 

In this paper, the results of the proposed architecture for developing a HILPB system are presented. 

At the core of the HILPB system is the power receiver which will convert the high intensity optical 

energy to electrical energy. The system also includes the necessary electronics for conditioning the energy 

for storage in lithium-ion polymer (LiPo) batteries or for powering an electric motor. Initial lab results are 

presented to validate the ability for the receiver to dissipate the thermal loads while efficiently converting 

the high intensity optical energy to electrical energy. 

Power Receiver 

The proposed architecture for the HILPB receiver is developed around the photovoltaic ability to 

directly convert optical energy to electrical energy. Unfortunately most optical to electrical devices have 

been developed for solar applications which are limited to converting the equivalent of approximately one 

sun of broadband optical energy. However, in an attempt to develop more cost efficient photovoltaic 

systems, specialized cells have been developed that can convert optical energies greater than one sun for 

use with concentration systems. For HILPB applications the most relevant characteristics of the cells are 

the maximum input irradiance the cells can convert, spectral response, thermal performance capability, 

sensitivity to energy variations, and how these characteristics affect the overall design and performance of 

the HILPB system. 

The current HILPB receiver has been developed around a silicon based Vertical Multi-Junction 

(VMJ) photovoltaic cell (Ref. 2) developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). The VMJ cell 

(0.8 cm2

 area) has been flash tested in the GRC solar simulator to withstand 2500 suns of broadband 

optical energy while producing 40.4 W electrical output from nearly 211 W/cm2 irradiance levels with a 

nominal voltage of 24 V under these transient conditions. The VMJ cell is an integrally bonded seriesconnected array of miniature silicon junction unit cells, as shown in Figure 1. The illuminated face of the 

cell is oriented at the side of the p+nn+ junctions, and so it is also referred to as an “edge illumination” 

multi-junction cell. Because of the series connected junctions, one small 40-junction VMJ cell (0.8 cm2 

area) can output a nominal 24 V under load. This eliminates the need to construct series stacks of 

conventional photovoltaic cells in an array to interface with downstream electronics, resulting in a 

significantly more compact and practical receiver. The number of junctions in a VMJ cell can easily be 

varied during the design and manufacturing process to accommodate the bus voltage requirements of the 

end application. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 3 

 

The unique design of the VMJ cell has several advantages. First, since the cell is edge illuminated, the 

need for electrical contacts on the illuminated face is eliminated. This allows for a greater unobstructed 

convertible surface area for the photonic energy to enter the cell. Since the junctions are vertical, the cell 

thickness is not limited by the thickness of the silicon wafer, but can be adjusted during manufacturing to 

optimize performance. Through the depth of each junction, there is an equal probability that an excess 

carrier can be generated from the impinging energy, increasing the chance for a photonic collision to 

occur. This produces an improved spectral response at low and high frequencies (Ref. 2). Second, the 

series connections of the junctions provide high compatibility with most loads. This also creates a very 

high reverse voltage breakdown immunity, which reduces the need for adding bypass protection diodes 

that are typical in paralleled photovoltaic arrays. In a reverse biased experiment, a 40-junction VMJ cell 

was able to withstand a 6 kV potential (the limit of the test equipment) with only minimal leakage current. 

The semiconductor material selected to construct the VMJ cell will significantly affect the overall 

system architecture by determining the characteristics of the power receiver’s spectral and thermal 

response. For this study a silicon VMJ cell was used due to the high technology readiness level (TRL) and 

availability, however in the future other materials may be considered that may tailor the system 

performance for a particular application. The thermal response of a silicon VMJ cell is such that for every 

10 of temperature increase the output power will degrade by less than 1 percent, as shown in Figure 2. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 4 

The frequency response of silicon, shown in Figure 3, illustrates that a standard IR laser with a 

wavelength in the vicinity of 1 m would be ideally suited for maximizing the output performance. 

A limiting factor in the performance of the VMJ cell under HILPB conditions is the energy profile of 

the incident light. Since the cell is made up of series junctions, it is ideal to have uniform illumination 

across the entire convertible surface. A single or group of weaker junctions, resulting from relatively less 

illumination, will limit the overall output from the cell. In other words, since the cell is a series 

arrangement of junctions, the maximum output current will be limited by the weakest junction’s 

contribution. This creates a significant problem for HILPB, since the very nature of the propagation of a 

laser beam is not uniform, but fundamentally transverse electromagnetic Gaussian (TEM00) in profile 

(Ref. 3). This is a primary issue that will require further investigation when optimizing the system 

performance. 

The design and construction of the power receiver addresses four main issues. First, the receiver needs 

to provide sufficient thermal dissipation in order to handle the excess, electrically unconvertible, energy. 

Second, the materials in the power receiver must have similar coefficients of thermal expansion to avoid 

stress fracturing during thermal cycling. Third, the electrical paths and connections in the receiver must 

feature low resistivities in order to maintain good end-to-end power efficiency. Lastly, the receiver must 

provide electrical isolation for the VMJ cells as well as the electrical routing and the interconnections. 

The prototype of the HILPB receiver includes a high performance thermal management system. One 

of the primary challenges with HILPB is how to efficiently remove the undesirable thermal energy from 

the VMJ cell. The first part of the thermal management system was determining how to mechanically 

attach the cell to the rest of the receiver while providing good thermal conductivity along with electrical 

isolation. The current design is constructed from a series of epoxies and substrate materials. A crosssectional illustration of the optical receiver is shown in Figure 4. The VMJ cell is mounted to a substrate 

with a boron nitride filled epoxy resin (Ref. 5). The resin features a good thermal conductivity 

(1.5 W/mK) and a relatively high operating temperature (approximately 200 C). In the center of the 

stack up is the polished aluminum nitride substrate. Aluminum nitride offers very good thermal 

performance (175 W/mK), low coefficient of thermal expansion and good dielectric strength. Aluminum 

nitride is commonly used as a substitute for the standard FR4 fiberglass in printed circuit board (PCB) 

construction for better thermal conductivity in high power circuits. These characteristics render it ideal for 

the power receiver application. The substrate is mounted to the copper heat pipe unit using another layer 

of the boron nitride epoxy resin. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 5 

The electrical paths between the photovoltaic cells were routed with a ferrite-nickel-cobalt alloy wire 

known as Kovar (Carpenter Technology Corporation) (Ref. 6). Kovar is a material commonly used for 

bond wires within integrated circuit (IC) semiconductor construction, since its coefficient of thermal 

expansion is similar to that of silicon. A 6 percent silver plating was added to the Kovar wire, resulting in 

a low electrical resistance of 31.9 Ω per 1000 ft. The routing wires are electrically attached to the outer 

two junctions of each VMJ cell with a silver-filled adhesive paste, called Silver Paste Plus (SPI) (Ref. 7). 

The paste has a high melting temperature (962 C) and a low electrical resistivity (310–5 Ω-cm), which 

meets the demands of the power receiver. 

The current prototype focuses on a terrestrial application of providing in-air refueling capability to a 

perpetual flight electric UAV, and therefore the size and weight constraints of the thermal control system 

are a significant consideration for the initial proof-of-concept. The anticipated maximum input radiance 

was to be less than 220 W of optical energy with a desired receiver operating temperature of 60 °C. A 

small commercial off the shelf (COTS) Zalman microprocessor heat pipe unit, shown in Figure 5 was 

employed as the primary means of thermal conduction, and modified to maximize surface cooling effect 

by utilizing the airflow from the propeller. The top mating surface of the unit is finely lapped to provide 

for maximum thermal transfer. The unit is constructed out of copper, and features three heat pipes that are 

partially filled with phase change fluid. The heat pipes traverse from the surface plate through a radial 

array of fins, where airflow is supplied by a small DC fan. This original fan has been replaced by a more 

powerful motor and propeller commonly used for propulsion on military UAVs, supplied by the Air 

Force Research Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, in order to increase the amount of cooling beyond the 

manufacturer’s specifications. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 6 

A heat transfer analysis may be performed on the receiver to obtain the theoretical temperature at the 

surface of the VMJ cell during test as shown in Figure 6. This is accomplished by calculating the thermal 

resistance for each material in the stack, considering the ambient temperature, surface air velocity 

generated by the propeller, and the optical input power. 

With an ambient laboratory temperature of 20 C, the original manufacture’s cooling fan running at 

2,600 rpm, an estimated 30 percent optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency for the VMJ cells 

(70 percent thermal load assuming zero reflectivity) and an input radiance of 130 W, the above equation 

yields a theoretical surface temperature of 51.4 C. With an input radiance equal to 220 W, the resulting 

theoretical surface temperature is 73.15 C. This is well within the operating limitations of the prototype 

power receiver for the initial range of tests to be conducted. 

The constructed prototype of a HILPB receiver featuring a parallel array of nine photovoltaic VMJ 

cells is shown in Figure 7. The outer ring is cut from GPO3 electrical grade fiberglass, and serves as a 

mounting surface for the stainless hardware. Optical mounting blocks have been machined to interface 

with standard 7/8 in. optical rods, and have been bolted to the heat pipe unit. 1/32 in. channels were 

milled into the top face of the copper plate, where several thermocouples have been embedded to 

characterize the thermal profile of the interface between the copper and the aluminum nitride substrate. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 7 

There have been a few variations in the geometry of the receivers, each featuring a different number and 

arrangement of VMJ cells to vary the total convertible surface area. Overall, the receivers have been 

constructed to support a host of HILPB experiments, some of which will be discussed in subsequent 

papers. 

Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) System 

The objective of the PMAD system is to allow the electrical energy from the HILPB receiver to be 

properly monitored and distributed to the downstream load (propulsion) or the battery pack for storage. 

The design incorporates an energy storage subsystem which includes specific charger circuitry for the 

prototype high energy density Lithium-ion polymer (LiPo) batteries, in addition to featuring cell 

balancing electronics that provide charge/discharge accuracy and safety for the battery pack. An 

illustrative block diagram of the PMAD system is shown in Figure 8. 

Power distribution throughout the system and to the load depends on the available energy from the 

VMJ cells and the status of the battery pack. This means that the load, in the UAV case the brushless DC 

motor, may be operated either directly from the VMJ cells through a buck/boost DC-to-DC converter or 

from the energy storage subsystem. The control circuitry allows either one of these modes to be online or, 

if desirable, both modes can be offline in which case the motor is turned off. An IRFU5305 field-effect 

transistor (FET), along with a properly biased high voltage, open-collector driver IC (Texas Instrument’s 

SN7406 series) ensures the correct functionality of the power routing control circuitry. 

System monitoring allows tracking of the electrical energy throughout the system, so that power 

distribution can be accurately controlled and displayed by the on-board controller. Thus, voltage and 

current measurements are taken at the following points in the system: the input power source at the 

receiver (VMJ cells), the buck/boost converter’s output, and the main output of the energy storage 

subsystem. The voltage and temperature of each cell in the battery pack are also individually monitored, 

while the charger circuitry provides additional monitoring capabilities. A total of seven K-type thermal 

couples are used to monitor the temperature profile of the HILPB receiver and also the 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 8 

temperature of the battery pack. MAX6674, a temperature measurement IC that incorporates cold 

junction compensation, is utilized to measure temperatures in the range of 0 to 125 C; these temperatures 

are monitored once a second (1 Hz). 

Current measurements are made possible by utilizing Maxim Integrated Products’ MAX4173H, a 

high-side current sense amplifier. This IC uses an external current sense resistor, the sizing of which 

optimizes the current sense capability depending on the amount of available current. Hence, MAX4173H 

produces an output voltage representative of the measured current which is fed to the on board controller 

through a low noise, unity gain buffer amplifier. A two stage operational-amplifier design is implemented 

to measure the bus voltage at different stages in the system. The first op-amp stage is used as a high 

impedance follower, to minimize parasitic current draw or loading down of the bus voltage. The second 

circuit utilizes another amplifier to precisely scale the bus voltage and provide the appropriate voltage 

level to a 4-channel, 13-bit analog-to-digital converter (AD7324, a product of Analog Devices, Inc.). The 

operational amplifiers used in this design are of the Texas Instruments Burr-Brown OPA251 family. A 

block diagram of the voltage and current measurement circuitry is depicted in Figure 9. 

Charging of the battery pack is accomplished by using a highly integrated, multi-chemistry battery 

charger control IC – MAX1908, manufactured by Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (Ref. 10). In order to 

achieve high efficiency, MAX1908 makes use of a buck topology with synchronous rectification. With a 

few modifications, this battery charger may be configured to charge Li+ batteries at current charge rates 

as high as 7.5 A. MAX1908 uses analog inputs to control the charge voltage and current, which in turn 

gives the on board controller flexibility and total control over these tasks; separate internal control 

compensation loops allow for accurate voltage and current charge of the battery system. In addition, the 

charger features monitoring capabilities, which are provided as outputs to the main controller. Some of 

the tasks that can be monitored are: presence of the input-power, the battery-charging current, and the 

input-power current draw. Furthermore, the charger circuit provides a conditioning charge feature that is 

dependent on the present state of the battery pack. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 9 

The energy storage subsystem incorporates cell balancing during charging and discharging of the 

batteries, to ensure that each cell in the battery pack has the same voltage potential while in a fully 

charged or discharged state. The battery pack is not in a balanced condition if one of the cells reaches the 

maximum charge state before the other cells. For optimal performance, the voltage difference between the 

cells cannot be greater than 100 mV at any time during the charge or discharge cycle (Refs. 11 and 12). In 

case the cells become unbalanced, the battery system’s efficiency is affected in two ways. First, the 

battery system has less capacity during the discharge cycle since the cell that is not fully charged will be 

drained before the other cells. Second, once the battery system reaches an unbalanced state, the lifetime of 

the unbalanced cell is significantly reduced. 

Prior to balancing the battery pack, each cell’s voltage must be recorded. The individual cell voltage 

is measured by a precision, low drift, instrumentation amplifier (Texas Instruments Burr-Brown’s 

INA118). An accurate cell voltage measurement is ensured by implementing a passive low pass filter with 

an approximate cutoff of 1.5 kHz to reduce sensitivity to higher frequency noise. The output voltage of 

the INA118 is than polled by the A/D converter for digitization. Once the cell voltage is obtained, 

balancing or shunting a battery cell is achieved by redirecting a portion of the charging current 

(approximately 20 percent) around the cell through a power resistor. The charging current is routed using 

a power FET (IRLR024N) that is connected in parallel with each individual cell. The FET is controlled by 

the main microcontroller, which along with the power resistor is used to balance the cells while charging 

or discharging the battery pack. A block diagram of the energy storage subsystem’s functionality is 

depicted in Figure 10. 

 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 10 

At the heart of the PMAD system is the on board controller, a Xilinx Spartan 3 field programmable gate 

array (FPGA). In addition to data acquisition, interfacing with the battery charger IC and all of the 

associated safety tasks previously described, the FPGA is also responsible with controlling the speed of 

the UAV propeller, controlling some of the PMAD system tasks autonomously, interfacing with a 

wireless communication channel, and displaying the real-time data to a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD); the 

LCD is provided for quickly validating the status of the system. The processing for the FPGA has been 

constructed using a Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language 

(VHDL). The FPGA communicates with a remote computer through a 900 MHz, 9600 BAUD rate, 

Spread Spectrum wireless module interface manufactured by MaxStream Inc. The complete system 

electronics have been designed to fit on a 5 by 8 in., four layer printed circuit board (PCB), as shown in 

Figure 11. 

Experimental Results 

The presented results validate the ability to dissipate the excess thermal energy, efficiently convert 

high intensity optical energy to electrical energy, and illustrate the necessity of having uniform 

illumination across the cell. 

These tests were performed in the Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST) laser laboratory, 

using a 975 nm fiber coupled semiconductor laser with a single VMJ cell receiver. The fiber was aligned 

orthogonal to the face of the receiver using a three axis positioner (see Fig. 12), and the beam was 

allowed to propagate in free space without any collimation optics added. The inherent divergence of the 

beam led to an overfill factor with respect to the VMJ cell, which was measured in order to quantify the 

irradiance level impinging on the face of the photovoltaic cell (quantifying overfill). 

The test procedure called for the laser energy to be increased incrementally, while sweeping an I-V 

curve for the receiver at each set-point. During these tests the propeller was operated to provide cooling to 

the heat pipe unit, as it would during a test flight. By carefully aligning the receiver to the laser in three 

axes and increasing the laser power, a peak measurement was obtained. At an input radiant power of 

27.1 W, a single VMJ cell was able to continuously generate 6.24 W of electrical power at peak output, 

for an optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency of 23 percent. These sets of data serve as the first 

empirical proof of concept for the application of the VMJ technology for HILPB. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 11 

Proposed Improvements and Future Work 

There are several items in the current design of the HILPB receiver that requires further investigation 

in order to better understand the optimal system design. The selection of silicon for the VMJ cells is the 

first and most important consideration. Silicon limits the wavelength of the laser for optimal power 

conversion at the cell level. The material selection also affects the entire system architecture. The laser 

source with 980 nm wavelength has safety concerns with respect to eye protection that would need to be 

addressed. The laser frequency has an effect on the performance and complexity of the laser pointing 

system. The 980 nm laser has significant beam spread from the fiber aperture that will need to be 

compensated for along with more significant atmospheric absorption than lasers with different 

wavelengths. The ability of the laser system to uniformly illuminate the receiver significantly dictates the 

overall performance, which will need to be investigated in more detail. Finally, the mounting of the cells 

and the design of the heat sink can be optimized to improve the overall system objectives. 

Conclusions 

Results of this work demonstrate that it is feasible to continuously beam large amounts of energy at 

extremely high densities wirelessly to narrow receiver apertures (<1 cm); utilizing VMJ photocell based 

receivers with high intensity IR laser sources. We believe that this wireless power transmission 

technology will be an enabler to many applications where conventional means of power distribution and 

delivery is prohibitive. By utilizing focusing optics, such a system may be able to deliver large amounts 

of power across hundreds of kilometers, as limited by the diffraction limit of the source aperture. This 

type of system would enable long range optical “refueling” of electric platforms, such as MUAV’s, 

airships, robotic exploration and spacecraft employing electric means of propulsion. 

The developed HILPB architecture may be used to further investigate ways of optimizing the optical 

power delivery system. In the future, adjustments will be made to the operating wavelength, laser beam 

profile, receiver geometry, cell construction, beam modulation and thermal interface to maximize the 

amount of electrical power at the receiver, while understanding the limitations of the system. 
NASA/TM—2011-217009 12 

It is the opinion of the Industrial Space Systems Laboratory that the HILPB receiver, when used in 

conjunction with a fiber laser near 980 nm, provides the starting point for developing an infrastructure 

capable of beaming energy for aerospace and emergency applications. This proof of concept 

demonstration shows the feasibility of the VMJ cells to be used with a high intensity narrowband 

photonic source under steady state conditions. The current TRL of this technology is three, as shown by 

the experimental demonstration of the critical functionality of the system. 

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12. C. Martinez; Y. Droir; J. Ciancio, “Smart Batteries and the Intersil x3100,” Intersil® - Application 

Note (AN127). 
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved 

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PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 

1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY)

01-03-2011 

2. REPORT TYPE

Technical Memorandum 

3. DATES COVERED (From - To)

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

High Intensity Laser Power Beaming Architecture for Space and Terrestrial Missions 

5a. CONTRACT NUMBER

5b. GRANT NUMBER

5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER

6. AUTHOR(S)

Nayfeh, Taysir; Fast, Brian; Raible, Daniel; Dinca, Dragos; Tollis, Nick; Jalics, Andrew 

5d. PROJECT NUMBER

5e. TASK NUMBER

5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER

WBS 439432.07.01.17.02 

7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field 

Cleveland, Ohio 44135-3191 

8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION

 REPORT NUMBER

E-17672 

9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Washington, DC 20546-0001 

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NASA 

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NASA/TM-2011-217009 

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Unclassified-Unlimited 

Subject Categories: 33, 36, and 74 

Available electronically at http://www.sti.nasa.gov 

This publication is available from the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 443-757-5802

13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

14. ABSTRACT

High Intensity Laser Power Beaming (HILPB) has been developed as a technique to achieve Wireless Power Transmission (WPT) for both 

space and terrestrial applications. In this paper, the system architecture and hardware results for a terrestrial application of HILPB are 

presented. These results demonstrate continuous conversion of high intensity optical energy at near-IR wavelengths directly to electrical 

energy at output power levels as high as 6.24 W from the single cell 0.8 cm2 aperture receiver. These results are scalable, and may be 

realized by implementing receiver arraying and utilizing higher power source lasers. This type of system would enable long range optical 

“refueling” of electric platforms, such as MUAV’s, airships, robotic exploration missions and provide power to spacecraft platforms which 

may utilize it to drive electric means of propulsion. 

15. SUBJECT TERMS

Optics; Photonics; Laser power beaming; Wireless Power Transmission (WPT) 

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