A plasmonic nanoantenna array for solar energy applications

A 5×5 elements plasmonic antenna array is presented for solar energy harvesting. The array is based on circular nanodisc particles of gold (Au). The dielectric substrate is formed of three layers: SiO 2 , Si, and SiO 2 , representing a basic solar cell configuration. The array is excited using a plane wave excitation. The total size of the design is 500×500 ×260 nm 3 . The effect of changing the diameter of the disc particles on the electric field magnitude (v/m) is investigated and compared with the reference case (without nanodisc). The resonance wavelength of the proposed design can be tuned to any desired wavelength in the visible light spectrum by optimizing the diameter of the disc particle. The proposed design can be used for solar energy harvesting or other applications related to photonic detection.