Evolutionary Algorithm Geometry Optimization of Optical Antennas

Printed circuit antennas have been used for the detection of electromagnetic radiation at a wide range of frequencies that go from radio frequencies (RF) up to optical frequencies. The design of printed antennas at optical frequencies has been done by using design rules derived from the radio frequency domain which do not take into account the dispersion of material parameters at optical frequencies. This can make traditional RF antenna design not suitable for optical antenna design. This work presents the results of using a genetic algorithm (GA) for obtaining an optimized geometry (unconventional geometries) that may be used as optical regime antennas to capture electromagnetic waves. The radiation patterns and optical properties of the GA generated geometries were compared with the conventional dipole geometry. The characterizations were conducted via finite element method (FEM) computational simulations.