"David Spain" wrote in message
...
Anyone care to comment on how you get power back out of an IR laser beam?
Are you converting IR laser energy directly to electricity as in the
microwave
case, or are you heating something which then indirectly generates
electricity
by powering a turbine?


From what I've read, microwaves are still the better way of sending
power from orbit. The only use of lasers that I believe is practical
is to use them only through space, to send the power from a collector
to a transmitter, which would convert it to microwaves and send
it to the ground. This way, the power is collected by concentrating
mirrors that collect the energy and turn it directly into lasers.

The huge advantages would be the collectors are a tiny fraction of
the mile-sized solar cell collectors. And the collectors and transmitters
could be in widely different places.