Beam steering and impedance matching of plasmonic horn nanoantennas

TL;DR

This paper investigates a plasmonic horn nanoantenna on a metal-backed substrate, demonstrating beam steering capabilities and developing an impedance matching model to optimize power transmission.

Contribution

It introduces a transmission line model for impedance matching in plasmonic nanoantennas, enhancing power transfer efficiency and enabling beam steering.

Findings

Beam steering achieved over a broad elevation angle range.

Impedance matching section improves power transmission to 99.75%.

Ground plane increases back reflection, affecting impedance matching.

Abstract

In this paper, we study a plasmonic horn nanoantenna on a metal-backed substrate. The horn nanoantenna structure consists of a two-wire transmission line (TWTL) flared at the end. We analyze the effect of the substrate thickness on the nanoantenna's radiation pattern, and demonstrate beam steering in a broad range of elevation angles. Furthermore, we analyze the effect of the ground plane on the impedance matching between the antenna and the TWTL, and observe that the ground plane increases the back reflection into the waveguide. To reduce the reflection, we develop a transmission line model to design an impedance matching section which leads to 99.75% power transmission to the nanoantenna.