A multijunction solar cell including an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap and positioned for receiving an incoming light beam; and a second solar subcell disposed below and adjacent to and lattice matched with said upper first solar subcell, and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap; wherein at least one of the solar subcells has a graded band gap throughout the thickness of at least a portion of its emitter layer and base layer.

A monolithic multiple solar cell includes at least three partial cells, with a semiconductor mirror placed between two partial cells. The aim of the invention is to improve the radiation stability of said solar cell. For this purpose, the semiconductor mirror has a high degree of reflection in at least one part of a spectral absorption area of the partial cell which is arranged above the semiconductor mirror and a high degree of transmission within the spectral absorption range of the partial cell arranged below the semiconductor mirror.

A monolithic multiple solar cell includes at least three partial cells, with a semiconductor mirror placed between two partial cells. The aim of the invention is to improve the radiation stability of said solar cell. For this purpose, the semiconductor mirror has a high degree of reflection in at least one part of a spectral absorption area of the partial cell which is arranged above the semiconductor mirror and a high degree of transmission within the spectral absorption range of the partial cell arranged below the semiconductor mirror.

A stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell, which includes a first subcell having a p-n junction with an emitter layer and a base layer, the thickness of the emitter layer being less than the thickness of the base layer at least by a factor of ten, and the first subcell comprising a substrate having a semiconductor material from the groups III and V or a substrate from the group IV, and which further includes a second subcell arranged on the first subcell and a third subcell arranged on the second subcell, the two subcells each including an emitter layer and a base layer, and a tunnel diode and a back side field layer each being formed between the subcells, the thickness of the emitter layer being greater than the thickness of the base layer in each case between the second subcell and in the third subcell.

A stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell, which includes a first subcell having a p-n junction with an emitter layer and a base layer, the thickness of the emitter layer being less than the thickness of the base layer at least by a factor of ten, and the first subcell comprising a substrate having a semiconductor material from the groups III and V or a substrate from the group IV, and which further includes a second subcell arranged on the first subcell and a third subcell arranged on the second subcell, the two subcells each including an emitter layer and a base layer, and a tunnel diode and a back side field layer each being formed between the subcells, the thickness of the emitter layer being greater than the thickness of the base layer in each case between the second subcell and in the third subcell.

A multijunction solar cell assembly and its method of manufacture including interconnected first and second discreate semiconductor body subassemblies disposed adjacent and parallel to each other, in the sense of the incoming illumination, each semiconductor body subassembly including first top subcell, and possibly third middle subcells and a bottom solar subcell; wherein the interconnected subassemblies form at least a Three junction solar cell by a series connection being formed between the bottom solar subcell in the first semiconductor body with its at least least two junctions and the bottom solar subcell in the second semiconductor body representing the additional junction.

A multijunction solar cell assembly and its method of manufacture including interconnected first and second discreate semiconductor body subassemblies disposed adjacent and parallel to each other, in the sense of the incoming illumination, each semiconductor body subassembly including first top subcell, and possibly third middle subcells and a bottom solar subcell; wherein the interconnected subassemblies form at least a Three junction solar cell by a series connection being formed between the bottom solar subcell in the first semiconductor body with its at least least two junctions and the bottom solar subcell in the second semiconductor body representing the additional junction.

According to an embodiment, a self-powered sensor comprises at least one first layer emitting light in a preset wavelength band by receiving power from an outside, or receiving the emitted light reflected by an object, at least one second layer receiving light and generating a current, and a plurality of connectors each grown between two adjacent ones of the at least one first layer and the at least one second layer, the plurality of connectors transferring the generated current to the outside or transferring the power received from the outside to the at least one first layer and the at least one second layer.

According to an embodiment, a self-powered sensor comprises at least one first layer emitting light in a preset wavelength band by receiving power from an outside, or receiving the emitted light reflected by an object, at least one second layer receiving light and generating a current, and a plurality of connectors each grown between two adjacent ones of the at least one first layer and the at least one second layer, the plurality of connectors transferring the generated current to the outside or transferring the power received from the outside to the at least one first layer and the at least one second layer.

A solid or liquid fuel to plasma to electricity power source that provides at least one of electrical and thermal power comprising (i) at least one reaction cell for the catalysis of atomic hydrogen to form hydrinos, (ii) a chemical fuel mixture comprising at least two components chosen from: a source of H.sub.2O catalyst or H.sub.2O catalyst; a source of atomic hydrogen or atomic hydrogen; reactants to form the source of H.sub.2O catalyst or H.sub.2O catalyst and a source of atomic hydrogen or atomic hydrogen; one or more reactants to initiate the catalysis of atomic hydrogen; and a material to cause the fuel to be highly conductive, (iii) a fuel injection system such as a railgun shot injector, (iv) at least one set of electrodes that confine the fuel and an electrical power source that provides repetitive short bursts of low-voltage, high-current electrical energy to initiate rapid kinetics of the hydrino reaction and an energy gain due to forming hydrinos to form a brilliant-light emitting plasma, (v) a product recovery system such as at least one of an augmented plasma railgun recovery system and a gravity recovery system, (vi) a fuel pelletizer or shot maker comprising a smelter, a source or hydrogen and a source of H.sub.2O, a dripper and a water bath to form fuel pellets or shot, and an agitator to feed shot into the injector, and (vii) a power converter capable of converting the high-power light output of the cell into electricity such as a concentrated solar power device comprising a plurality of ultraviolet (UV) photoelectric cells or a plurality of photoelectric cells, and a UV window.