DESIGN OF GRAPHENE-BASED TERAHERTZ NANOANTENNA ARRAYS

This article presents a method for the design of graphene nanoantenna arrays at terahertz. A customized hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) is used to maximize the plasmonic field enhancements and to minimize the sidelobe levels by acting on the array thinning, the spacing between elements, the size, and the graphene chemical potential. In particular, the graphene chemical potential is controlled by an applied electrostatic bias field. The problem is recasted as an optimization one by defining a suitable cost function, which is then, minimized using the HGA. Numerical results concerning graphene nanoarrays are reported to assess the design methodology. The obtained results are promising, and they demonstrate the potentialities and the advantages of graphene nanoarrays. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.