Tapered Plasmonic Nanoantennas for Energy Harvesting Applications

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