Optical rectification using geometrical field enhancement in goldnano-arrays

Conversion of photons to electrical energy has a wide variety of applications includingimaging, solar energy harvesting, and IR detection. A rectenna device consists of anantenna in addition to a rectifying element to absorb the incident radiation within acertain frequency range. We designed, fabric...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2017-11, Vol.122 (18)
Main Authors: Piltan, S, Sievenpiper, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied physics
Broadband
Energy conversion
Energy harvesting
Gold
Incident radiation
Photons
Rectennas
Solar energy
Taylor series
Time dependence
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Summary:Conversion of photons to electrical energy has a wide variety of applications includingimaging, solar energy harvesting, and IR detection. A rectenna device consists of anantenna in addition to a rectifying element to absorb the incident radiation within acertain frequency range. We designed, fabricated, and measured an optical rectifier takingadvantage of asymmetrical field enhancement for forward and reverse currents due togeometrical constraints. The gold nano-structures as well as the geometrical parametersoffer enhanced light-matter interaction at 382 THz. Using the Taylor expansion of thetime-dependent current as a function of the external bias and oscillating opticalexcitation, we obtained responsivities close to quantum limit of operation. Thisgeometrical approach can offer an efficient, broadband, and scalable solution for energyconversion and detection in the future.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550