Optical wireless link between a nanoscale antenna and a transducing rectenna

• Published in: Nature communications 2018-05, Vol.9 (1), p.1992-7, Article 1992
• Main Authors: Dasgupta, Arindam, Mennemanteuil, Marie-Maxime, Buret, Mickaël, Cazier, Nicolas, Colas-des-Francs, Gérard, Bouhelier, Alexandre
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 142/126; 639/624/1075/401; 639/766/1130/2799; 639/925/927/1021; Antennas; Bias; CMOS; Downsizing; Electric currents; Electromagnetism; Electronic devices; Engineering Sciences; Frequencies; Humanities and Social Sciences; I.R. radiation; Integration; Lasers; Millimeter waves; multidisciplinary; Optical interconnects; Optical wireless; Optics; Photons; Physics; Radiation; Radio frequency; Rectennas; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Transmitters; Wireless networks; Wireless power transmission
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04382-7

Initiated as a cable-replacement solution, short-range wireless power transfer has rapidly become ubiquitous in the development of modern high-data throughput networking in centimeter to meter accessibility range. Wireless technology is now penetrating a higher level of system integration for chip-to-chip and on-chip radiofrequency interconnects. However, standard CMOS integrated millimeter-wave antennas have typical size commensurable with the operating wavelength, and are thus an unrealistic solution for downsizing transmitters and receivers to the micrometer and nanometer scale. Herein, we demonstrate a light-in and electrical signal-out, on-chip wireless near-infrared link between a 220 nm optical antenna and a sub-nanometer rectifying antenna converting the transmitted optical energy into direct electrical current. The co-integration of subwavelength optical functional devices with electronic transduction offers a disruptive solution to interface photons and electrons at the nanoscale for on-chip wireless optical interconnects. Integrating optical and electrical components for communication systems is challenging due to the differences of scale. The authors have developed an on-chip light-to-electrical wireless link between a nanoantenna and an optical rectifier, envisioned as a solution for future integrated wireless interconnects.