Electrically tunable polarizer based on graphene-loaded plasmonic cross antenna

Plasmonics for Telecommunications Applications

Plasmonic materials, when properly illuminated with visible or near-infrared wavelengths, exhibit unique and interesting features that can be exploited for tailoring and tuning the light radiation and propagation properties at nanoscale dimensions. A variety of plasmonic heterostructures have been demonstrated for optical-signal filtering, transmission, detection, transportation, and modulation. In this review, state-of-the-art plasmonic structures used for telecommunications applications are summarized. In doing so, we discuss their distinctive roles on multiple approaches including beam steering, guiding, filtering, modulation, switching, and detection, which are all of prime importance for the development of the sixth generation (6G) cellular networks.

A Review on the Development of Tunable Graphene Nanoantennas for Terahertz Optoelectronic and Plasmonic Applications

Exceptional advancement has been made in the development of graphene optical nanoantennas. They are incorporated with optoelectronic devices for plasmonics application and have been an active research area across the globe. The interest in graphene plasmonic devices is driven by the different applications they have empowered, such as ultrafast nanodevices, photodetection, energy harvesting, biosensing, biomedical imaging and high-speed terahertz communications. In this article, the aim is to provide a detailed review of the essential explanation behind graphene nanoantennas experimental proofs for the developments of graphene-based plasmonics antennas, achieving enhanced light-matter interaction by exploiting graphene material conductivity and optical properties. First, the fundamental graphene nanoantennas and their tunable resonant behavior over THz frequencies are summarized. Furthermore, incorporating graphene-metal hybrid antennas with optoelectronic devices can prompt the acknowledgment of multi-platforms for photonics. More interestingly, various technical methods are critically studied for frequency tuning and active modulation of optical characteristics, through in situ modulations by applying an external electric field. Second, the various methods for radiation beam scanning and beam reconfigurability are discussed through reflectarray and leaky-wave graphene antennas. In particular, numerous graphene antenna photodetectors and graphene rectennas for energy harvesting are studied by giving a critical evaluation of antenna performances, enhanced photodetection, energy conversion efficiency and the significant problems that remain to be addressed. Finally, the potential developments in the synthesis of graphene material and technological methods involved in the fabrication of graphene-metal nanoantennas are discussed.