alt Hacker NewsFiber transmits light, not rf. To get power out of fiber optics you have to have a photovoltaic cell on the other side and there's a limit for how much those can produce with such a collaminated light source.
Using fiber optics for power is like trying to make a solar panel generate electricity from a laser beam.
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> Using fiber optics for power is like trying to make a solar panel generate electricity from a laser beam.
Isn't that exactly what power beaming is, except typically with frequency range in microwaves instead of visible light?
just have a tiny steam turbine equivalent...? (some thermoelectric generator) You don't really need to be efficient. You have fans to blow air and dissipate heat on the other end after all
I have no idea why this might be limited by the light source being collimated?
I mean, you can get electricity from PV illuminated by a laser, and everything I've heard so far says it's easier than with sunlight because you can match the frequency of the laser to the band gap of the PV.
"trying to make a solar panel generate electricity from a laser beam" is literally what the article is about.