All-dielectric Antennas Research Articles

Design of high efficiency cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna based on topological photonic crystals

Over the last 30 years, various dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs) have been developed for application in portable wireless communications and millimeter wave systems. However, current methods to feed the antennas suffer from radiation leakage and high losses. In this paper, we propose using a topological photonic crystal (TPC) as an effective feeding method, which can effectively suppress the reflecting loss at the feeder/DRA interface. As a demonstration, we numerically design a DRA with a TPC feeder, operating in a high-order resonant mode at 1.5 THz. Simulation results show that the antenna has a return loss as low as 44 dB, an impedance bandwidth of 3.9%, a maximum gain of 7.4 dBi, and 3dB angular widths of 58 degrees. Over 99% radiation efficiency can be achieved at the operating THz band. The proposed all-dielectric antenna can be suitably used for integrated photonic chips, biomedical applications, and 6G.

High-efficiency and CMOS compatible out-of-plane light emission based on a silicon coupler.

Photonic antennas are critical in applications such as spectroscopy, photovoltaics, optical communications, holography, and sensors. Metal antennas are widely used because of their small size, but they are difficult to be compatible with a CMOS. All-dielectric antennas are easier to integrate with Si waveguides, but are generally larger in size. In this paper, we propose the design of a small-sized, high-efficiency semicircular dielectric grating antenna. The antenna's key size is only 2.37µm×4.74µm, and the emission efficiency reaches over 64% in the wavelength range from 1.16 to 1.61µm. The antenna provides a new, to the best of our knowledge, approach for three-dimensional optical interconnections between different decks of integrated photonic circuits.

Photonic Gap Antennas Based on High-Index-Contrast Slot Waveguides

Optical antennas made of low-loss dielectrics have several advantages over plasmonic antennas, including high radiative quantum efficiency, negligible heating and excellent photostability. However, due to weak spatial confinement, conventional dielectric antennas fail to offer light-matter interaction strengths on par with those of plasmonic antennas. We propose here an all-dielectric antenna configuration that can support strongly confined modes ($V\sim10^{-4}\lambda_{0}^3$) while maintaining unity antenna quantum efficiency. This configuration consists of a high-index pillar structure with a transverse gap that is filled with a low-index material, where the contrast of indices induces a strong enhancement of the electric field perpendicular to the gap. We provide a detailed explanation of the operation principle of such Photonic Gap Antennas (PGAs) based on the dispersion relation of symmetric and asymmetric horizontal slot-waveguides. To discuss the properties of PGAs, we consider silicon pillars with air or CYTOP as the gap-material. We show by full-wave simulations that PGAs with an emitter embedded in the gap can enhance the spontaneous emission rate by a factor of $\sim$1000 for air gaps and $\sim$400 for CYTOP gaps over a spectral bandwidth of $\Delta\lambda\approx300$ nm at $\lambda=1.25$ \textmu m. Furthermore, the PGAs can be designed to provide unidirectional out-of-plane radiation across a substantial portion of their spectral bandwidth. This is achieved by setting the position of the gap at an optimized off-centered position of the pillar so as to properly break the vertical symmetry of the structure. We also demonstrate that, when acting as receivers, PGAs can lead to a near-field intensity enhancement by a factor of $\sim$3000 for air gaps and $\sim$1200 for CYTOP gaps.

Significantly enhanced second-harmonic generations with all-dielectric antenna array working in the quasi-bound states in the continuum and excited by linearly polarized plane waves

Abstract The recently emerging all-dielectric optical nanoantennas based on high-index semiconductors have proven to be an effective and low-loss alternative to metal-based plasmonic structures for light control and manipulations of light–matter interactions. Nonlinear optical effects have been widely investigated to employ the enhanced interactions between incident light and the dielectrics at the Mie-type resonances, and in particular magnetic dipole resonances, which are supported by the semiconductor. In this paper, we explore the novel phenomenon of bound states in the continuum supported by high-index semiconductor nanostructures. By carefully designing an array of nanodisk structures with an inner air slot as the defect, we show that a novel high quality-factor resonance achieved based on the concept of bound state in the continuum can be easily excited by the simplest linearly polarized plane wave at normal incidence. This resonance further enhances the interactions between light and semiconductors and boosts the nonlinear effects. Using AlGaAs as the nonlinear material, we demonstrate a significant increase in the second-harmonic generation efficiency, up to six orders of magnitude higher than that achieved by magnetic dipole resonances. In particular, a second-harmonic generation efficiency around 10% can be numerically achieved at a moderate incident pump intensity of 5 MW/cm2.

All-dielectric metasurfaces for polarization manipulation: principles and emerging applications

Abstract Metasurfaces, composed of specifically designed subwavelength units in a two-dimensional plane, offer a new paradigm to design ultracompact optical elements that show great potentials for miniaturizing optical systems. In the past few decades, metasurfaces have drawn broad interests in multidisciplinary communities owing to their capability of manipulating various parameters of the light wave with plentiful functionalities. Among them, pixelated polarization manipulation in the subwavelength scale is a distinguished ability of metasurfaces compared to traditional optical components. However, the inherent ohmic loss of plasmonic-type metasurfaces severely hinders their broad applications due to the low efficiency. Therefore, metasurfaces composed of high-refractive-index all-dielectric antennas have been proposed to achieve high-efficiency devices. Moreover, anisotropic dielectric nanostructures have been shown to support large refractive index contrast between orthogonal polarizations of light and thus provide an ideal platform for polarization manipulation. Herein, we present a review of recent progress on all-dielectric metasurfaces for polarization manipulation, including principles and emerging applications. We believe that high efficient all-dielectric metasurfaces with the unprecedented capability of the polarization control can be widely applied in areas of polarization detection and imaging, data encryption, display, optical communication and quantum optics to realize ultracompact and miniaturized optical systems.

Bioinspired self-similar all-dielectric antennas: probing the effect of secondary scattering centres by Raman spectroscopy

The role of secondary scattering centres in surface light management of self-similar optical antennas is investigated by microRaman spectroscopy.

Design of a compact CMOS-compatible photonic antenna by topological optimization.

Photonic antennas are critical in applications such as spectroscopy, photovoltaics, optical communications, holography, and sensors. In most of those applications, metallic antennas have been employed due to their reduced sizes. Nevertheless, compact metallic antennas suffer from high dissipative loss, wavelength-dependent radiation pattern, and they are difficult to integrate with CMOS technology. All-dielectric antennas have been proposed to overcome those disadvantages because, in contrast to metallic ones, they are CMOS-compatible, easier to integrate with typical silicon waveguides, and they generally present a broader wavelength range of operation. These advantages are achieved, however, at the expense of larger footprints that prevent dense integration and their use in massive phased arrays. In order to overcome this drawback, we employ topological optimization to design an all-dielectric compact antenna with vertical emission over a broad wavelength range. The fabricated device has a footprint of 1.78 µm × 1.78 µm and shows a shift in the direction of its main radiation lobe of only 4° over wavelengths ranging from 1470 nm to 1550 nm and a coupling efficiency bandwidth broader than 150 nm.

Controlling On-chip Optical Radiation with All-Dielectric Antennas: Reconfigurable Interconnects and Lab-on-achip Devices

Aimed to improve the flexibility of optical network-on-a-chip topologies, unguided optical interconnects using plasmonic nanoantennas or dielectric phased arrays have been proposed. However, the bulky footprints of the latter, and both the low directivity figures and high losses of the former, together with complicated excitation schemes, limit their use for on-chip optical interconnects. Here, we introduce a novel concept of on-chip CMOS-compatible wireless optical system based on the use of smartly-engineered broadband easily-fed antennas, which not only overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks but also opens a wide range of applications in several fields. To illustrate its potential, several unprecedented on-chip wireless applications are outlined and experimentally demonstrated. This includes the verification of broadband highly-directive wireless data transmission at speeds as high as 160 Gbit·s−1 over mm-scale links, the realization of fully-reconfigurable wireless beam steering device and the validation of an ultra-compact integrated contactless microflow cytometer.

All-Dielectric Antenna Wavelength Router with Bidirectional Scattering of Visible Light.

An optical antenna forms the subwavelength bridge between free space optical radiation and localized electromagnetic energy. Its localized electromagnetic modes strongly depend on its geometry and material composition. Here, we present the design and experimental realization of a novel V-shaped all-dielectric antenna based on high-index amorphous silicon with a strong magnetic dipole resonance in the visible range. As a result, it exhibits extraordinary bidirectional scattering into diametrically opposite directions. The scattering direction is effectively controlled by the incident wavelength, rendering the antenna a passive bidirectional wavelength router. A detailed multipole decomposition analysis reveals that the excitation and abrupt phase change of an out-of-plane polarized magnetic dipole and an in-plane electric quadrupole are essential for the directivity switching. Previously, noble metals have been extensively exploited for plasmonic directional nanoantenna design. However, these inevitably suffer from high intrinsic ohmic losses and a relatively weak magnetic response to the incident light. Compared to a similar gold plasmonic nanoantenna design, we show that the silicon-based antennas demonstrate stronger magnetic scattering with minimal absorption losses. Our results indicate that all-dielectric antennas will open exciting possibilities for efficient manipulation of light-matter interactions.

Evanescently Fed Electromagnetic Band-Gap Horn Antennas and Arrays

The design of a horn antenna based on electromagnetic band-gap structures (EBGs) and fed by evanescent fields in the containing periodic structure is presented. Such all-dielectric antennas can form compact arrays and provide a promising solution for millimeter, submillimeter, and terahertz (THz) devices. An evanescently fed EBG horn antenna design based on a woodpile structure and operating at frequencies around 110 GHz is presented, together with experimental and simulation results for an analogous scaled-up prototype antenna operating in the Ku-band. It exhibits a 9% bandwidth and an average level of maximum gain approximately equal to 14.6 dBi.

Experimental verification of the concept of all-dielectric nanoantennas

Being motivated by the recent theoretical proposal of nanoantennas based on high-permittivity dielectric spheres [A. E. Krasnok et al., JETP Lett. 94, 22113 (2011)], we suggest and verify experimentally the concept of all-dielectric antennas in the microwave frequency range. In addition to the electric resonance, each sphere exhibits a very strong magnetic resonance, resulting in a narrow radiation pattern and overall high directivity of such antennas. We find an excellent agreement between the experimental data and numerical results and verify directly high-performance characteristics of such all-dielectric antennas potentially scalable to the nanoscale and operation at the optical frequency range.