Effect of rounding on the sensitivity of optical antennas based sensors

In this work we present the effect of rounding on the bulk sensitivity of the optical antenna. Dipole structures are simulated. Fabrication of the dipole optical antenna structures involves use of high resolution e-beam lithography (EBL), metal deposition and lift-off. It is expected that using the fabrication process, we should be able to fabricate exact dipole structures with sharp corners without using any advanced techniques like proximity corrections etc. These techniques increase the cost of the device. So, it is important to determine that whether the rounded corners improve the sensitivity for the sensors. Using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulation techniques we found that dipole structure with rounded corners improves the sensitivity of the gas sensor.