A study on bowtie antenna based optical rectenna system for THz energy harvesting applications.

The world is seeking alternative ways of renewable energy to fulfill the everyday growing energy demands and to reduce reliance on traditional carbon-based fuels. The scientific communities and researchers have started looking Infra-Red (IR) as an alternative source of renewable energy. There is abundant IR energy available from the waste heat sources. Harvesting this IR energy can be a promising solution in addressing the clean energy demand. The waste heat can be treated as high oscillating electromagnetic (EM) waves, having the highest intensity at 10.6 µm (28.3 THz). The IR energy harvesting can be achieved by using a device typically known as "Rectenna", which is an integration of nanoantenna and high frequency diode. The bowtie antenna which has ease in fabrication and integration simplicity is one of the ideal candidates for nanoantenna in collecting the waves. Furthermore, for energy harvesting applications, it is desired to have a passive rectification. The metal–Insulator-metal (M1I1M2) which works on the principle of electron tunneling, are one of the few candidates for rectenna system. In this paper, a different combination of metal arms has been explored for high frequency (28.3 THz) operations. The metal with different work function has been simulated to have the best electron tunneling and higher rectification. Also, in the this work we have studied the effect of substrate on the antenna performance at 28.3 THz. According to author best knowledge, this is the first comprehensive and systematic study on antenna arms for the rectenna system used in energy harvesting applications at 28.3 THz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]