Optical rectennas, antenna-coupled diode rectifiers that receive optical-frequency electromagnetic radiation and convert it to DC output, have been proposed for use in harvesting electromagnetic radiation from a blackbody source. The operation of these devices is qualitatively different from that of lower-frequency rectennas, and their design requires a new approach. To that end, we present a method to determine the rectenna response to high frequency illumination. It combines classical circuit analysis with classical and quantum-based photon-assisted tunneling response of a high-speed diode. We demonstrate the method by calculating the rectenna response for low and high frequency monochromatic illumination, and for radiation from a blackbody source. Such a blackbody source can be a hot body generating waste heat, or radiation from the sun.
References
Note: In this paper, we update the voltage and current terminology from Refs. 9 and 21 to comply with conventional electric circuit terminology. We write the rectenna operating voltage as VO, and use time-domain representation for the source current and voltage as iS(t) and vS(t), diode current and voltage as iD(t) and vD(t), respectively. In Ref. 9, the operating voltage was denoted as VD, and the source voltage, diode current, and diode voltage were represented in the frequency domain as , , and , respectively.
