No antireflection coating (ARC) alone could possibly raise the efficiency of solar cells by 50%.
Let's make a little calculation, shall we? TiOx ARC has an average reflectance of about 15%. That means only the remaining 85% of the incoming light will be used for power generation. For the sake of this discussion, let's now assume that the LPD SiO2 would have say 10% loss through reflection (compared to about 12% for SiNx). This means that the SiO2 ARC cells will use about 90% of the incoming light. Compared to 85% for cells coated with TiOx ARC, this will be a gain of 90/85, or a relative increase of about 5.9%, and not 50% - which again (as anyone with enough knowledge of how solar cells work will understand from the above calculation) using the improved ARC feature alone is IMPOSSIBLE to achieve. Even if an ARC with zero reflectance was possible, the maximum relative gain will be 100/85 = 17.5% over TiOX ARC, and about 13.6% over the standard SiNx ARC.
As for the second part (Helios) of your pump, you better familiarize yourself with the Liquid Phase Deposition (LPD) technique to deposit SiO2. First of all, this techniqe was first invented around 1950, and with small modifications has been patented many times since then. As for Natcore, their patent application was rejected by the US and European Patent Offices many times since early 2000's when the first application was made. By reading the reviewers comments, I would say it only could possibly be accepted after dropping the most important claims. Second, and most important, the LPD technique is very, very slow. It will take many, many hours to deposit a thick enough SiO2 film for use as an ARC. So, this is by no means a practical solution for solar cells, let alone for the dish-like panels from Helios.
Mike
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