In this paper, a novel design of tapered dipole nanoantenna is introduced and numerically analyzed for energy harvesting applications. The proposed design consists of three steps tapered dipole nanoantenna with rectangular shape. Full systematic analysis is carried out where the antenna impedance, return loss, harvesting efficiency and field confinement are calculated using 3D finite element frequency domain method (3D-FEFD). The structure geometrical parameters are optimized using particle swarm algorithm (PSO) to improve the harvesting efficiency and reduce the return loss at wavelength of 500 nm. A harvesting efficiency of 55.3% is achieved which is higher than that of conventional dipole counterpart by 29%. This enhancement is attributed to the high field confinement in the dipole gap as a result of multiple tips created in the nanoantenna design. Furthermore, the antenna input impedance is tuned to match a wide range of fabricated diode based upon the multi-resonance characteristic of the proposed structure.

In this chapter, novel designs of tapered-dipole nanoantennas are investigated for energy harvesting applications. A full systematic analysis for the proposed structure is presented where the harvesting efficiency, return loss, radiation pattern, and near-field enhancement are calculated using a finite-element frequency domain solver. Simulation results show that the proposed nanoantennas can achieve a harvesting efficiency of 60% at a wavelength of 500 nm where the antenna input impedance is matched to that of fabricated rectifying devices. Additionally, the cross-tapered nanoantenna offers a near-field enhancement factor of 252 V/m, which is relatively high compared to previously reported nanoantennas. The spatial and spectral resonance modes are investigated, and the simulation results indicate the ability of the cross geometry to be utilized in color-sorting applications. Moreover, the particle swarm optimization technique is adapted to configure the proposed designs for maximum performance.

No abstract

No abstract