Imaging and steering an optical wireless nanoantenna link

Abstract

Optical nanoantennas tailor the transmission and reception of optical signals. Owing to their capacity to control the direction and angular distribution of optical radiation over a broad spectral range, nanoantennas are promising components for optical communication in nanocircuits. Here we measure wireless optical power transfer between plasmonic nanoantennas in the far-field and demonstrate changeable signal routing to different nanoscopic receivers via beamsteering. We image the radiation pattern of single-optical nanoantennas using a photoluminescence technique, which allows mapping of the unperturbed intensity distribution around plasmonic structures. We quantify the distance dependence of the power transmission between transmitter and receiver by deterministically positioning nanoscopic fluorescent receivers around the transmitting nanoantenna. By adjusting the wavefront of the optical field incident on the transmitter, we achieve directional control of the transmitted radiation over a broad range of 29°. This enables wireless power transfer from one transmitter to different receivers.

Highly Directive Hybrid Plasmonic Leaky Wave Optical Nano-Antenna

“…Due to the very different behavior of metals at optical frequencies, with respect to the behavior of their counterpart at radio-band and microwave frequencies, a nano-antenna operating at optical frequencies is not a simple downscaled version of a microwave antenna. Therefore, recently different research groups around the world have been working to develop new methods to analyze [7,8], synthesize [9,10], and feed optical antennas [12] employing surface plasmon theory and rich antenna theory.…”

“…Introduction of the antenna concept into the optical near infrared and terahertz frequency regime holds promise for a wide range of novel applications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] including photo-detection [2,3], sensing [4], heat transfer [5,6], and spectroscopy [16].…”

A generalized Kerker condition for highly directive nanoantennas

“…Varying size, shape, and material of nanoantennas causes intriguing scattering effects that rely on the interference of these resonances such as superscattering [7,8], cloaking [9,10], a control of the polarization state of radiation [11], or enhanced directionality in the scattering response [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Especially the latter function is extremely exciting considering application perspectives, for which an optical wireless nanoantenna link is a prominent example [20].…”

Plasmonic circuits for manipulating optical information

“…Examples of different optical antenna designs are the Yagi-Uda antenna [180,181], cross antennas [182], J-pole [183,184], V antennas [183], and bow-tie antennas [185]. As with radio engineering, it is possible to create antenna arrays [173] for controlling the divergence and radiation direction of a light beam [186,187] and plasmonic structures for steering the radiation direction of light depending on frequency [167] or controlling the propagation direction of plasmons based on phase [188]. The antenna excitation patterns [189,190] can be altered by changing the phase and polarization of the incident light, which affects the plasmon modes that are excited [191].…”