Chapters authored
Dielectric Resonator Nantennas for Optical Communication
Dielectric resonator antennas (DRA) are ceramic based materials that are nonmetallic in nature. They offer high permitivity values (εr: 10-100). DRAs? have made their mark in various applications specially in the microwave and millimeter wave (MMW) spectrum, and are making encouraging progress in the THz band, because of their low conduction losses and higher radiation efficiencies compared to their metallic counterparts. With the advancements in nano fabrication, metallic antennas designed in the THz band have taken an interest. These antennas are termed as optical antennas or nantennas. Optical antennas work by receiving the incident electromagnetic wave or light and focusing it on a certain point or hot spot. Since most of the antennas are metallic based with Noble metals as radiators, the conducting losses are huge. One solution that we offer in this work is to integrate the nantennas with DRs. Two different DR based designs, one triangular and other hexagonal, are presented. Both the antennas operate in the optical C-band window (1550 nm). We design, perform numerical analysis, simulate, and optimize the proposed DR nantennas. We also consider array synthesis of the proposed nantennas in evaluating how much directive the nantennas are for use in nano network applications.
Part of the book: Optical Communication Technology