Laser Power Transmission in Space: Plasma-Based Power Cell

Laser power beaming offers a route to space energy delivery, but semiconductor laser photovoltaic receivers face thermalization, Joule heating, and radiative recombination losses at the solid-state junction. Here, we propose a gas-phase plasma power cell that converts incident vacuum-ultraviolet photons directly into electrical output through xenon photoionization, magnetically guided electron transport, and collection at a biased electrode surface, replacing the fixed semiconductor junction with an optically tunable, all-gas-phase energy-conversion medium. The model includes secondary electron emission at the electrode surfaces as a possible interfacial energy recycling pathway. Particle-in-cell Monte Carlo simulations of a low-pressure xenon chamber driven by a 58.4 nm pulsed laser predict a steady-state laser-to-electrical conversion efficiency of 82.25% at an average incident power of 2000 W/m. Energy accounting is close to 1%, with 7.52% photon escape, 8.95% boundary loss, and 1.29% chamber-stored energy. Parameter scans over bias voltage, magnetic field, and gas pressure identify photon absorption, electron confinement, and plasma-electrode charge collection as the controlling design factors. Because the present calculation is a preliminary numerical proof of concept using simplified kinetics and idealized surface, boundary, and energy-recycling treatments, the 82.25% value should be interpreted as a receiver-side model prediction conditional on those assumptions, rather than as a demonstrated or guaranteed device efficiency. These results establish a proof-of-concept gas-phase photonic receiver architecture for wireless laser power transmission in space.