Study of a nano optical antenna for intersatellite communications

Abstract

Nowadays, communications are moving to the optical frequencies, due to the extended bandwidth available, and the saturation of the RF spectrum. The dimensions of the antennas decrease with the operating wavelength. Therefore, in the optical domain, building an antenna may imply the design of a device with dimensions of several nanometers. The development of nanotechnology has enabled the development of these new devices, known as nanoantennas or optical antennas. New phenomenology has appeared with these new devices. In 2006 it was discovered that the transmission of light through arrays of subwavelength holes in a metal, gives rise to the phenomenon of extraordinary optical transmission, or in other words the amount of optical energy appearing on the other side of the metal is much greater than was expected by theoretical studies. The applications of these new antennas are fascinating, and are present in a very broad range of areas from biophotonics to quantum communication, data processing or optical wireless communications. This paper aims at studying and characterizing, in a classical perspective, an optical antenna formed by an array of subwavelength holes in a metal sheet that could be integrated in the transmitter or receiver ends of an intersatellite optical communication system.