Yagi-Uda optical antenna array collimated laser based on surface plasmons

The divergence and directivity of a laser with a periodic Yagi-Uda optical antenna array modulated surface are investigated by finite element method. The nanoparticle optical antenna arrays are optimized to achieve the high directivity and the small divergence by using of Helmholtz's reciprocity theorem. When the nanoparticle antenna replaced by a Yagi-Uda antenna with same size, the directivity and the signal-to-noise ratio of the modulated laser beam are notably enhanced. The main reason is that the directors of the Yagi-Uda antennas induce more energy to propagate towards the antenna transmitting direction. The results can provide valuable guidelines in designing collimated laser, which can be widely applied in the field of biologic detection, spatial optical communication and optical measurement. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.