volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

The Plasmonic nanoantennas operating in the optical frequency range often experience reduced radiation efficiency due to substrate-induced nonradiative losses and insufficient electromagnetic field confinement. This work aims to systematically examine the influence of substrate material properties on plasmonic resonance behavior, surface current distribution, and radiation efficiency of a gold nanostrip patch antenna. A fixed-geometry plasmonic nanoantenna is designed and numerically investigated on five substrates, namely SiO₂, GaN, GaAs, AlAs, and AlGaAs. Full-wave electromagnetic simulations are performed using frequency-dependent material dispersion modelled through established Drude-Lorentz formulations. The antenna implemented on the Au-SiO₂ combination provides the most favourable plasmonic performance, yielding the best impedance matching (-51.27 dB), maximum radiation efficiency of 83%, wide impedance bandwidth (118 THz), and highly stable radiation patterns. GaN also exhibits strong performance with a high radiation efficiency (71%) and wide bandwidth (97 THz), making it a viable choice for high-power optical systems. GaAs, AlAs, and AlGaAs substrates show reduced efficiency due to higher dielectric losses and weaker plasmonic confinement. The study confirms that substrate permittivity and loss characteristics play a crucial role in determining plasmonic nanoantenna performance.

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Dr. Poonam Namdeo

Dr. Pritam Bag

Prof. Mridula Gupta

Dr. Biswajeet Mukherjee