Abstract
An optical leaky wave antenna (OLWA) is a device that radiates a light wave into the surrounding space from a leaky wave (LW) guided mode or receives optical power from the surrounding space into a guided optical mode. In this work, we propose and provide a 3D analysis of a novel CMOS compatible OLWA made of a silicon nitride (Si<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>) waveguide comprising periodic silicon perturbations which allow electronic tuning capability. The analysis presented here includes the effect of the number of semiconductor perturbations, the antenna radiation pattern and directivity. We show that the number of the silicon perturbations has to be large to provide a long radiating section required to achieve radiation with high directivity. In other words, the proposed structure allows for a very narrow-beam radiation. Preliminary results are confirmed by exploiting leaky wave and antenna array factor theory, as well as verified by means of two full-wave simulators (HFSS and COMSOL). Our purpose is to ultimately use PIN junctions as building blocks for each silicon implantation for the electronic control of the radiation. In particular, the electronic tunability of the optical parameters of silicon (such as refractive index and absorption coefficient) via current injection renders itself the ideal platform for optical antennas that can facilitate electronic beam control, and boost the efficiency of optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting diodes, lasers and solar cells, and bio-chemical sensors.
Highlights
AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMAn optical leaky wave antenna (OLWA) is a device that radiates a light wave into the surrounding space from a leaky wave (LW) guided mode or, vice-versa, it couples receiving optical power from the surrounding space into a guided optical mode
In [4], we have proposed the design of a dielectric OLWA with periodic semiconductor perturbations, capable of producing narrow beam radiation, with electronic tuning capability
The OLWA proposed here radiates a narrow beam because a leaky wave (LW) with low attenuation constant is excited at one end of the dielectric waveguide with perturbations
Summary
An optical leaky wave antenna (OLWA) is a device that radiates a light wave into the surrounding space from a leaky wave (LW) guided mode or, vice-versa, it couples receiving optical power from the surrounding space into a guided optical mode. In [4], we have proposed the design of a dielectric (silicon nitride) OLWA with periodic semiconductor (silicon) perturbations, capable of producing narrow beam radiation, with electronic tuning capability. The optical antenna cases studied up to date mostly focus on the local field distribution control of the device. Those kinds of antennas are fabricated in a sub-wavelength dimension and some exceptional physical phenomena, such as super-resolution effect and near-field enhancement [5], are realizable due to the resonant modes. Combination of optical antennas with silicon perturbation can facilitate electronic beam control for OLWAs [9,10,11]. The OLWA proposed here radiates a narrow beam because a leaky wave (LW) with low attenuation constant is excited at one end of the dielectric waveguide with perturbations.
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