Optical wireless link between a nanoscale antenna and a transducing rectenna

Abstract: Initiated as a cable-replacement solution, short-range wireless power transfer has rapidly become ubiquitous in the development of modern high-data throughput networking in centimeter to meter accessibility range. Wireless technology is now penetrating a higher level of system integration for chip-to-chip and on-chip radiofrequency interconnects. However, standard CMOS integrated millimeter-wave antennas have typical size commensurable with the operating wavelength, and are thus an unrealistic solution for downsizing transmitters and receivers to the micrometer and nanometer scale. In this letter, we demonstrate a light-in and electrical-signal-out, on-chip wireless near infrared link between a 200 nm optical antenna and a sub-nanometer rectifying antenna converting the transmitted optical energy into direct current (d.c.). The co-integration of subwavelength optical functional devices with an electronic transduction offers a disruptive solution to interface photons and electrons at the nanoscale for on-chip wireless optical interconnects.