Nested aplanats for practical maximum-performance solar concentration.

Dual-mirror aplanats provide efficient, ultracompact, high-irradiance solar concentration and were recently developed for concentrator photovoltaics. However, inherent limitations place the focus inside the optic. This mandates a terminal dielectric concentrator to extract concentrated sunlight to the solar cell outside the optic, and an optical bond to the cell. Can a modified design strategy site the focus outside the optic (eliminating the need for an extractor and optical bond) without compromising concentrator compactness, low shading losses, or pragmatic manufacturability? We show how judiciously nested dual-mirror aplanats can satisfy all these objectives, with raytrace simulations confirming performance tantamount to the best conventional aplanats.