abstract

• The electric currents induced by infrared radiation incident on optical antennas and resonant structures increase their temperature through Joule heating as well as change their electric resistance through the bolometric effect. As the thermo-electric mechanism exists throughout a distributed bolometer, a multiphysics approach was adopted to analyze thermal, electrical, and electromagnetic effects in a dipole antenna functioning as a resonant distributed bolometer. The finite element method was used for electromagnetic and thermal considerations. The results showed that bolometric performance depends on the choice of materials, the geometry of the resonant structure, the thickness of an insulating layer, and the characteristics of a bias circuit. Materials with large skin depth and small thermal conductivity are desirable. The thickness of the SiO2 insulating layer should not exceed 1.2 μm, and a current source for the bias circuit enhances performance. An optimized device designed with the previously stated design rules provides a response increase of two orders of magnitude compared to previously reported devices using the same dipole geometry. © 2013 The Authors.

authors

• Alda J.
• Cuadrado A.
• González Contreras Francisco Javier

publication date

• 2013-01-01

published in

• Journal of Nanophotonics  Journal

keywords

• bolometers; infrared detectors; optical antennas Bolometers; Dipole antennas; Infrared radiation; Insulating materials; Nanoantennas; Optical instruments; Silica; Thermal conductivity; Current sources; Insulating layers; Multi-physics; Multiphysics simulations; Optical antennas; Optimized devices; Orders of magnitude; Resonant structures; Infrared detectors

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1117/1.JNP.7.073093

start page

end page

volume

• 7

issue

• 1