Analysis of the spectral response of fractal antennas related with its geometry and current paths

Fractal antennas have been proposed to improve the bandwidth of resonant structures and optical antennas. Their multiband characteristics are of interest in radiofrequency and microwave technologies. In this contribution we link the geometry of the current paths built-in the fractal antenna with the spectral response. We have seen that the actual currents owing through the structure are not limited to the portion of the fractal that should be geometrically linked with the signal. This fact strongly depends on the design of the fractal and how the different scales are arranged within the antenna. Some ideas involving materials that could actively respond to the incoming radiation could be of help to spectrally select the response of the multiband design.

Detectivity comparison of bolometric optical antennas

The practical application of optical antennas in detection devices strongly depends on its ability to produce an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio for the given task. It is known that, due to the intrinsic problems arising from its sub-wavelength dimensions, optical antennas produce very small signals. The quality of these signals depends on the involved transduction mechanism. The contribution of different types of noise should be adapted to the transducer and to the signal extraction regime. Once noise is evaluated and measured, the specific detectivity, D*, becomes the parameter of interest when comparing the performance of antenna coupled devices with other detectors. However, this parameter involves some magnitudes that can be defined in several ways for optical antennas. In this contribution we are interested in the evaluation and comparison of D_ values for several bolometric optical antennas working in the infrared and involving two materials. At the same time, some material and geometrical parameters involved in the definition of noise and detectivity will be discussed to analyze the suitability of D_ to properly account for the performance of optical antennas.

High-resolution spatial-response measurements of optical nano-antennas in the visible

A few years ago, some of the authors of the paper demonstrated the resonance of optical antennas in the visible frequencies. The results of that paper were obtained using experimental techniques that were primarily developed for the measurement of antenna-coupled detectors in the infrared. In the present paper, we show the results of spatial-response mapping obtained by using a dedicated measurement station for the characterization of optical antennas in the visible. At the same time, the bottleneck in the spatial responsivity calculation represented by the beam characterization has been approached from a different perspective. The proposed technique uses a collection of knife edge measurements in order to avoid the use of any model of the laser beam irradiance. By taking all this into account we present the spatial responsivity of optical antennas measured with high spatial resolution in the visible.

Absolute calibration and characterization of the multiband imaging photometer for Spitzer. I. The stellar calibrator sample and the 24 μm calibration

We present the stellar calibrator sample and the conversion from instrumental to physical units for the 24 μm channel of the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS). The primary calibrators are A stars, and the calibration factor based on those stars is 4.54 × 10^-2 MJy sr^–1 (DN/s)^–1, with a nominal uncertainty of 2%. We discuss the data reduction procedures required to attain this accuracy; without these procedures, the calibration factor obtained using the automated pipeline at the Spitzer Science Center is 1.6% ± 0.6% lower. We extend this work to predict 24 μm flux densities for a sample of 238 stars that covers a larger range of flux densities and spectral types. We present a total of 348 measurements of 141 stars at 24 μm. This sample covers a factor of ~460 in 24 μm flux density, from 8.6 mJy up to 4.0 Jy. We show that the calibration is linear over that range with respect to target flux and background level. The calibration is based on observations made using 3 s exposures; a preliminary analysis shows that the calibration factor may be 1% and 2% lower for 10 and 30 s exposures, respectively. We also demonstrate that the calibration is very stable: over the course of the mission, repeated measurements of our routine calibrator, HD 159330, show a rms scatter of only 0.4%. Finally, we show that the point-spread function (PSF) is well measured and allows us to calibrate extended sources accurately; Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) and MIPS measurements of a sample of nearby galaxies are identical within the uncertainties.