Optical antennas driven by quantum tunneling: a key issues review

Abstract

Analogous to radio- and microwave antennas, optical nanoantennas are devices that receive and emit radiation at optical frequencies. Until recently, the realization of electrically driven optical antennas was an outstanding challenge in nanophotonics. In this review we discuss and analyze recent reports in which quantum tunneling-specifically inelastic electron tunneling-is harnessed as a means to convert electrical energy into photons, mediated by optical antennas. To aid this analysis we introduce the fundamentals of optical antennas and inelastic electron tunneling. Our discussion is focused on recent progress in the field and on future directions and opportunities.

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Roadmap for Photonics with 2D Materials
• Atomic-scale structural fluctuations of a plasmonic cavity
• A general framework of canonical quasinormal mode analysis for extreme nano-optics
• Angular momentum radiation from current-carrying molecular junctions
• Electroluminescence and thermal radiation from metallic carbon nanotubes with defects
• Electric directional steering of cathodoluminescence from graphene-based hydrid nanostructures
• Light Emission and Conductance Fluctuations in Electrically Driven and Plasmonically Enhanced Molecular Junctions