  Transferring energy without transferring mass is a powerful paradigm to
address the challenges faced when the access to, or the deployment of, the
infrastructure for energy conversion is locally impossible or impractical.
Laser beaming holds the promise of effectively implementing this paradigm. With
this perspective, this work evaluates the optical-to-electrical power
conversion that is created when a collimated laser beam illuminates a silicon
photovoltaic solar cell that is located kilometers away from the laser. The
laser is a CW high-energy Yb-doped fiber laser emitting at a center wavelength
of 1075 nm with ~1 m2 of effective beam area. For 20 kW illumination of a solar
panel having 0.6 m2 of area, optical simulations and thermal simulations
indicate electrical output power of 3000 Watts at a panel temperature of 550 K.
Our investigations show that thermo-radiative cells are rather inefficient. In
contrast, an optimized approach to harvest laser energy is achieved by using a
hybrid module consisting of a photovoltaic cell and a thermo-electric
generator. Finally, practical considerations related to infrared power beaming
are discussed and its potential applications are outlined.
