Solar Cells... incident angle of radiation.

cosmik_debris

Hi,

I'm an A level student here in the UK, and have just handed in my rushed piece of coursework on how the incident angle of radiation effects the power produced by a solar cell.

Obviously I came to the conclusion that most was produced when the radiation was falling perpendicular but why is this? Reflection and refraction obviously has something to play, fresnel's equations etc... but what else?

Does the Compton effect have something to do with this or am I barking up the wrong tree?

That is all,
Sam

russ_watters

Its simple geometry: if the photons are moving parallel to each other, you catch the most by being perpendicular to their path.