Advanced Photovoltaic Development at Air Force Research Laboratory

Photovoltaics continue to be the primary source of electrical power for most near-Sun space missions. The desire to enhance or enable new space missions through higher efficiency, increased specific power (W/kg), increased volumetric power density (W/m(3)) and improved radiation resistance, along with decreased costs, continues to push development of novel solar cell and array technologies. To meet present and future space power requirements, gallium arsenide based multijunction solar cells, thin-film solar cells, and more novel technologies such as intermediate bandgap devices are being pursued. These efforts have resulted in a continual advancement in performance, but new paradigms will be required to continue that performance trend. As cell efficiency increases, other cell and power system characteristics may become more important, namely cost and environmental durability as well as power system survivability. Opportunities for high performance photovoltaics continue to expand for both space and terrestrial applications.