Engineering the Input Impedance of Optical Nano Dipole Antennas: Materials, Geometry and Excitation Effect

An optical nano dipole antenna is analyzed by means of its input impedance as well as the matching properties of the antenna topology and material configuration. A comparison of this classical microwave driving method with plane wave excitation is accomplished, contrasting the resonances in the input impedance and optical cross sections for several setups, and analyzing the spectral response shape. It is found that for all structures analyzed, a simple linear expression can be defined characterizing the relation between total dipole length and resonant wavelength. The fact that this linear relationship remains valid for different excitation models, for most widely used antenna materials (Au, Ag, Cu, and Al) and even in the presence of substrates is important with respect to practical designs. To our knowledge, such an extensive study has not been performed before.