Wireless at the Nanoscale: Optical Interconnects using Matched Nanoantennas

Abstract

Optical waveguide interconnects are a major component of chip-scale data processing and computational systems. Here, we propose an alternative mechanism based on optical wireless broadcasting links using nanoantennas, which may overcome some of the limitations of nanoscale waveguide interconnects. By properly loading and matching nanoantenna pairs with optical nanocircuits, we theoretically demonstrate a complete optical wireless link that, in spite of some radiation loss and mismatch factors, may exhibit much less absorption loss, largely outperforming regular plasmonic waveguide links.