A novel traveling-wave hybrid plasmonic optical antenna is proposed for operation at the standard telecommunication wavelength of 1550 nm and with the frequency bandwidth of more than 16 THz. A highly directive radiation pattern with 15.2 dBi directivity and 82% efficiency is achieved. The developed antenna benefits from high directivity advantage of leaky-wave antennas, and low loss properties and confinement of hybrid plasmonic structures. The designed device can have applications in inter/intera chip optical interconnect, and absorption enhancement of photodetectors, and solar cells.
2. Tang, L., S. E. Kocabas, S. Latif, A. K. Okyay, D. Ly-Gagnon, K. C. Saraswat, and D. A. B. Miller, "Nanometre-scale germanium photodetector enhanced by a near-infrared dipole antenna," Nat. Photon., Vol. 2, 226-229, 2008.
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.30
3. Cao, L., J.-S. Park, P. Fan, B. Clemens, and M. L. Brongersma, "Resonant germanium nanoantenna photodetectors," Nano Lett., Vol. 10, 1229-1233, 2010.
doi:10.1021/nl9037278
4. Anker, J. N., W. P. Hall, O. Lyandres, N. C. Shah, J. Zhao, and R. P. Van Duyne, "Biosensing with plasmonic nanosensors," Nat. Mater., Vol. 7, 442-453, 2008.
doi:10.1038/nmat2162
5. De Wilde, Y., F. Formanek, R. Carminati, B. Gralak, P. A. Lemoine, K. Joulain, J.-P. Mulet, Y. Chen, and J.-J. Greffet, "Thermal Radiation Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy," Nature, Vol. 444, 740-743, 2006.
doi:10.1038/nature05265
6. Schuller, J. A., T. Taubner, and M. L. Brongersm, "Optical antenna thermal emitters," Nat. Photon., Vol. 3, 658-661, 2009.
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2009.188
7. Alu, A. and N. Engheta, "Hertzian plasmonic nanodimer as an efficient optical nanoantenna," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 78, 195111, 2008.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.78.195111
8. Alu, A. and N. Engheta, "Input impedance, nanocircuit loading, and radiation tuning of optical nanoantennas," Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 101, 043901, 2008.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.043901
9. Sederberg, S. and A. Elezzabi, "Sierpiski fractal plasmonic antenna: A fractal abstraction of the plasmonic bowtie antenna," Opt. Express, Vol. 19, 10456-10461, 2011.
doi:10.1364/OE.19.010456
10. Sederberg, S. and A. Y. Elezzabi, "Nanoscale plasmonic contour bowtie antenna operating in the mid-infrared," Opt. Express, Vol. 19, 15532-15537, 2011.
doi:10.1364/OE.19.015532
11. Lee, H., S. You, P. V. Pikhitsa, J. Kim, S. Kwon, C. G. Woo, and M. Choi, "Three-dimensional assembly of nanoparticles from charged aerosols," Nano Lett., Vol. 11, 119-124, 2010.
doi:10.1021/nl103787k
12. Dregely, D., K. Lindfors, M. Lippitz, N. Engheta, M. Totzeck, and H. Giessen, "Imaging and steering an optical wireless nanoantenna link," Nature Communications, Vol. 5, 4354, 2014.
doi:10.1038/ncomms5354
13. Kosako, T., Y. Kadoya, and H. F. Hofmann, "Directional control of light by a nano-optical YagiUda antenna," Nat. Photon., Vol. 4, 312-315, 2010.
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2010.34
14. Liu, X. and A. Alu, "Subwavelength leaky-wave optical nanoantennas: Directive radiation from linear arrays of plasmonic nanoparticles," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 82, 144305, 2010.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.82.144305
15. Wang, Y., A. S. Helmy, and G. V. Eleftheriades, "Ultra-wideband optical leaky-wave slot antennas," Opt. Express, Vol. 19, 12392-12401, 2011.
doi:10.1364/OE.19.012392
16. Novotny, L. and S. J. Stranick, "Near-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy with pointed probes," Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem., Vol. 57, 303331, 2006.
doi:10.1146/annurev.physchem.56.092503.141236
17. Yousefi, L. and A. C. Foster, "Waveguide-fed optical hybrid plasmonic patch nano-antenna," Opt. Express, Vol. 20, 195111, 2012.
doi:10.1364/OE.20.018326
18. Ooi, K. J. A., P. Bai, M. X. Gu, and L. K. Ang, "Design of a monopole-antenna-based resonant nanocavity for detection of optical power from hybrid plasmonic waveguides," Opt. Express, Vol. 19, 17075-17085, 2011.
doi:10.1364/OE.19.017075
19. Yaacobi, A., E. Timurdogan, and M. R. Watts, "Vertical emitting aperture nanoantennas," Opt. Letters, Vol. 37, 1454-1456, 2012.
doi:10.1364/OL.37.001454
20. Song, Q., S. Campione, O. Boyraz, and F. Capolino, "Silicon-based optical leaky wave antenna with narrow beam radiation," Opt. Express, Vol. 19, 8735-8749, 2011.
doi:10.1364/OE.19.008735
21. Sacher, W. D., Y. Huang, L. Ding, B. J. F. Taylor, H. Jayatilleka, G. Lo, and J. K. S. Poon, "Wide bandwidth and high coupling efficiency Si3N4-on-SOI dual-level grating coupler," Opt. Express, Vol. 22, 10938-10947, 2014.
doi:10.1364/OE.22.010938
22. Alam, M. Z., J. Meier, J. S. Aitchison, and M. Mojahedi, "Super mode propagation in low index medium," Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference, JThD112, 2007.
23. Dai, D. and S. He, "A silicon-based hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a metal cap for a nano-scale light confinement," Opt. Express, Vol. 17, 16646-16653, 2009.
doi:10.1364/OE.17.016646
24. Salvador, R., A. Martinez, C. Garcia-Meca, R. Ortuno, and J. Marti, "Analysis of hybrid dielectric plasmonic waveguides," Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal, Vol. 14, 1496-1501, 2008.
doi:10.1109/JSTQE.2008.920035
25. Avrutsky, I., R. Soref, and W. Buchwald, "Sub-wavelength plasmonic modes in a conductor-gap-dielectric system with a nanoscale gap," Opt. Express, Vol. 18, 348-363, 2010.
doi:10.1364/OE.18.000348
26. Wu, M., Z. Han, and V. Van, "Conductor-gap-silicon plasmonic waveguides and passive components at subwavelength scale," Opt. Express, Vol. 18, 11728-11736, 2010.
doi:10.1364/OE.18.011728
27. Pitarke, J. M., V. M. Silkin, E. V. Chulkov, and P. M. Echenique, "Theory of surface plasmons and surface-plasmon polaritons,", Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 70, 1, 2007.
28. Balanis, C. A., Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 3rd edition, Wiley, 2005.
29. Johnson, P. B. and R. W. Christy, "Optical constants of the noble metals," Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 6, 4370, 1972.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.6.4370