A Reconfigurable Graphene Nanoantenna on Quartz Substrate

In the terahertz (THz) band, conventional metallic antennas are virtually infeasible, due to the low mobility of electrons and huge attenuation. The existing metallic THz antennas need a high power to overcome scattering losses, and tend to have a low antenna efficiency. Fortunately, graphene is an excellent choice of miniaturized antenna in millimeter/THz applications, thanks to its unique electronic properties in THz band. Therefore, this paper presents two miniaturized reconfigurable graphene antennas, and characterizes their performance in terms of frequency reconfiguration, omnidirectional radiation pattern, and radiation efficiency. The proposed graphene antennas were printed on a quartz substrate, and simulated on CST Microwave Studio. The results show that the excellence of the proposed antennas in reflection coefficient, dynamic frequency reconfiguration (DFR), and omnidirectional radiation pattern. The operation frequency of the two antennas varies from 0.74 to 1.26 THz and from 0.92 to 1.15 THz, respectively. The proposed antennas have great prospects in wireless communications/sensors.

Magnetic switching of Kerker scattering in spherical microresonators

Magneto-optical materials have become a key tool in functional nanophotonics, mainly due to their ability to offer active tuning between two different operational states in subwavelength structures. In the long-wavelength limit, such states may be considered as the directional forward- and back-scattering operations, due to the interplay between magnetic and electric dipolar modes, which act as equivalent Huygens sources. In this work, on the basis of full-wave electrodynamic calculations based on a rigorous volume integral equation (VIE) method, we demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining magnetically-tunable directionality inversion in spherical microresonators (THz antennas) coated by magneto-optical materials. In particular, our analysis reveals that when a high-index dielectric is coated with a magneto-optical material, we can switch the back-scattering of the whole particle to forward-scattering simply by turning off/on an external magnetic field bias. The validity of our calculations is confirmed by reproducing the above two-state operation, predicted by the VIE, with full-wave finite-element commercial software. Our results are of interest for the design of state-of-the-art active metasurfaces and metalenses, as well as for functional nanophotonic structures, and scattering and nanoantennas engineering.

Fabry-Perot Cavity Leaky Wave Antennas with Tunable Features for Terahertz Applications

Terahertz (THz) radiation is a very appealing band of the electromagnetic spectrum due to its practical applications. In this context, the THz generation and manipulation is an essential part of the technological development. The demand of THz antennas is still high because it is already difficult to obtain directive, efficient, planar, low-cost, and easy-to-fabricate THz radiating systems. In this regard, Fabry-Perot cavity leaky-wave antennas are gaining increasing attention at THz, due to their very interesting radiating features: the combination of planar designs with metamaterials and metasurfaces could offer a promising platform for future THz manipulation technologies. In this short review, we focus on different classes of leaky-wave antennas, based on materials with tunable quasi-optical parameters. The possibility of producing directive patterns with particularly good efficiencies, as well as the capability of dynamically reconfiguring their radiating features, are discussed by taking into account the risk of increasing costs and fabrication complexity.