76 research outputs found
Highly tunable ultra-narrow-resonances with optical nano-antenna phased arrays in the infrared
We report our recent development in pursuing high Quality-Factor (high-Q
factor) plasmonic resonances, with vertically aligned two dimensional (2-D)
periodic nanorod arrays. The 2-D vertically aligned nano-antenna array can have
high-Q resonances varying arbitrarily from near infrared to terahertz regime,
as the antenna resonances of the nanorod are highly tunable through material
properties, the length of the nanorod, and the orthogonal polarization
direction with respect to the lattice surface,. The high-Q in combination with
the small optical mode volume gives a very high Purcell factor, which could
potentially be applied to various enhanced nonlinear photonics or
optoelectronic devices. The 'hot spots' around the nanorods can be easily
harvested as no index-matching is necessary. The resonances maintain their
high-Q factor with the change of the environmental refractive index, which is
of great interest for molecular sensing.Comment: 8 pages, appears in Proc. SPIE 9163, Plasmonics: Metallic
Nanostructures and Their Optical Properties XII, 91630R (September 10, 2014
(Invited) mm-wave silicon ICs: An opportunity for holistic design
Millimeter-waves integrated circuits offer a unique opportunity for a holistic design approach encompassing RF, analog, and digital, as well as radiation and electromagnetics. The ability to deal with the complete system from the digital circuitry to on-chip antennas and everything in between offers unparalleled opportunities for completely new architectures and topologies, previously impossible due the traditional partitioning of various blocks in conventional design. This opens a plethora of new architectural and system level innovation within the integrated circuit platform. This paper reviews some of the challenges and opportunities for mm-wave ICs and presents several solutions to them
WiFi emission-based vs passive radar localization of human targets
In this paper two approaches are considered for human targets localization based on the WiFi signals: the device emission-based localization and the passive radar. Localization performance and characteristics of the two localization techniques are analyzed and compared, aiming at their joint exploitation inside sensor fusion systems. The former combines the Angle of Arrival (AoA) and the Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) measures of the device transmissions to achieve the target position, while the latter exploits the AoA and the bistatic range measures of the target echoes. The results obtained on experimental data show that the WiFi emission-based strategy is always effective for the positioning of human targets holding a WiFi device, but it has a poor localization accuracy and the number of measured positions largely depends on the device activity. In contrast, the passive radar is only effective for moving targets and has limited spatial resolution but it provides better accuracy performance, thanks to the possibility to integrate a higher number of received signals. These results also demonstrate a significant complementarity of these techniques, through a suitable experimental test, which opens the way to the development of appropriate sensor fusion techniques
Near-field mapping of dipole nano-antenna-coupled bolometers
The near-field characteristics of single, double, and arrays of connected dipole nano-antennas coupled to bolometers were studied by infrared scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) and analyzed by numerical simulations. Results were consistent with classical antenna theory showing the expected pi phase difference across the terminals of the dipoles. However, according to the observed differences between the measurements and simulations, the symmetry of the amplitude signal appeared to be sensitive with respect to the position of the bolometric element relative to the dipoles. The effect of the position of the bolometer on the associated near-field distribution suggests an influence on the coupling and efficiency of energy transfer into these detectors, which could be important for determining tolerances in the fabrication of such devices. These results show how near-field measurements in general can provide critical information to guide the design of nano-antennas, nano-antenna-phased arrays, and integrated photonic devices
A Fully Integrated 24-GHz Eight-Element Phased-Array Receiver in Silicon
This paper reports the first fully integrated 24-GHz eight-element phased-array receiver in a SiGe BiCMOS technology. The receiver utilizes a heterodyne topology and the signal combining is performed at an IF of 4.8 GHz. The phase-shifting with 4 bits of resolution is realized at the LO port of the first down-conversion mixer. A ring LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) generates 16 different phases of the LO. An integrated 19.2-GHz frequency synthesizer locks the VCO frequency to a 75-MHz external reference. Each signal path achieves a gain of 43 dB, a noise figure of 7.4 dB, and an IIP3 of -11 dBm. The eight-path array achieves an array gain of 61 dB and a peak-to-null ratio of 20 dB and improves the signal-to-noise ratio at the output by 9 dB
Optimizations of Patch Antenna Arrays Using Genetic Algorithms Supported by the Multilevel Fast Multipole Algorithm
We present optimizations of patch antenna arrays using genetic algorithms and highly accurate full-wave solutions of the corresponding radiation problems with the multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA). Arrays of finite extent are analyzed by using MLFMA, which accounts for all mutual couplings between array elements efficiently and accurately. Using the superposition principle, the number of solutions required for the optimization of an array is reduced to the number of array elements, without resorting to any periodicity and similarity assumptions. Based on numerical experiments, genetic optimizations are improved by considering alternative mutation, crossover, and elitism mechanisms. We show that the developed optimization environment based on genetic algorithms and MLFMA provides efficient and effective optimizations of antenna excitations, which cannot be obtained with array-factor approaches, even for relatively simple arrays with identical elements
mm-Wave Silicon ICs: Challenges and Opportunities
Millimeter-waves offer promising opportunities and interesting challenges to silicon integrated circuit and system designers. These challenges go beyond standard circuit design questions and span a broader range of topics including wave propagation, antenna design, and communication channel capacity limits. It is only meaningful to evaluate the benefits and shortcoming of silicon-based mm-wave integrated circuits in this broader context. This paper reviews some of these issues and presents several solutions to them
The Future of High Frequency Circuit Design
The cut-off wavelengths of integrated silicon transistors have
exceeded the die sizes of the chips being fabricated with them.
Combined with the ability to integrate billions of transistors on
the same die, this size-wavelength cross-over has produced a
unique opportunity for a completely new class of holistic circuit
design combining electromagnetics, device physics, circuits, and
communication system theory in one place. In this paper, we discuss
some of these opportunities and their associated challenges
in greater detail and provide a few of examples of how they can
be used in practice
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