A high gain and wideband on-chip hybrid plasmonic V-shaped nano-antenna

Abstract

In this paper, a wideband hybrid plasmonic V-shaped nano-antenna is proposed based on coupled hybrid plasmonic waveguide (CHPW) feeding to increase the surface plasmon propagation length. The CHPW specifications are investigated analytically and numerically to obtain the dispersion relation and propagation length using the genetic algorithm and the finite element method, respectively. Moreover, the proposed V-shaped nano-antenna, with a fractional bandwidth of ∼86% and a maximum efficiency of 98%, is able to receive/transmit optical signals at three telecommunication wavelengths of 850, 1310, and 1550 nm with high realized gains of 10.5, 9.39, and 9.05 dB, respectively. The shape of the radiation pattern, with a main lobe along the antenna axis, makes this antenna appropriate for point-to-point connections in inter-or intra-chip optical wireless links and networks, which is studied comprehensively in this article. Furthermore, to obtain a high optical power signal and tune the antenna orientation, the performance of the antenna is investigated with two different types of array structure, single row and square, and its applications for energy harvesting and beam steering are studied. The fabrication feasibility of the nano-antenna is realizable based on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology.

Theoretical analysis of a circular hybrid plasmonic waveguide to design a hybrid plasmonic nano-antenna

“…The first step to design our proposed nano-antenna is to develop a wideband nano-antenna with low loss, low reflection, high directivity, high efficiency, and a reduced transverse size. Despite some studies to develop optical features of HPNA [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] , no study has been done about the CHPWFNA. The horn nano-antenna, flared to a larger opening, is so useful in RF region because they can make uniform phase front to enhance the directivity and gain 32 .…”

“…It is essential to mention that the CHPWFNAs are excited independently in-phase, i.e. without considering the signal splitter, exciting each waveguide with its fundamental mode 26 . We can see that the FDTD and FEM results agree well with the ones obtained from the antenna theory.…”

“…Recently, hybrid plasmonic waveguide-fed nano-antennas have obtained significant attention due to their ability to convert free-propagating optical radiation into localized energy and vice versa through the reciprocity theory, in addition to focusing on controlling the distribution of the local field 20 – 26 . Various topologies for hybrid plasmonic nano-antennas (HPNAs) have been proposed based on the design of rectangular hybrid plasmonic waveguide-fed (RHPW) antennas such as patch 20 , 22 , Vivaldi 23 , bowtie 21 , horn-like 24 , V- and W-shaped 25 , 26 . To design HPNAs for optical wireless communications, the critical parameters of gain, directivity, efficiency, propagation length and impedance matching play important roles.…”

“…In our previous work, we have introduced a new vertical director to increase the directivity of the InP-based W-shaped nano-antenna to the values of 7.96 and 10.72 dBi at the wavelengths of 1,310 and 1,550 nm, respectively 25 . Moreover, based on the coupled HPW, a V-shaped nano-antenna has been proposed, which is able to receive/transmit optical signals at three telecommunication wavelengths of 850, 1,310, and 1,550 nm with the high realized gains of 10.50, 9.39, 9.05 dB, respectively, the maximum efficiency of 98%, and ∼86% bandwidth from 150 to 390 THz 26 .…”

Dynamic beam-steering of graphene-based terahertz cross Yagi–Uda antenna with a theoretical approach

“…Assessing the electromagnetic performance of PAs has attracted much more attention [10]. These studies have focused on various types of PAs such as W-, V-and T-shaped [3,7,11,12], circular [13], bow-tie [14], Vivaldi [15], horn [16], helical [17] and so on, to increase the efficiency and execute the above-mentioned applications. However, the proposed antennas such as dipole [18], bow-tie, spiral [19], and trimmers [20] are mostly appropriate for near-field applications, and suffer from poor far-field specifications in comparison to the RF antennas [21].…”