Polarization Response of Log-Spiral Antenna-Based Infrared Detectors

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Abstract
We are developing circular-polarization-sensitive infrared detectors called spiral thermoelectrically coupled nanoantennas (TECNAs) for solar imaging and terrestrial sensing applications. In a spiral TECNA, a nanoscale thermocouple is used to measure the localized joule heating caused by induced currents within a spiral nanoantenna structure. This paper discusses the response of spiral TECNAs to elliptical polarization, which must be considered when performing circular polarization measurements of sources of arbitrary polarization. Measurements and simulations show that spiral TECNAs respond maximally to a specific matching elliptical polarization and minimally to the orthogonal, nonmatching elliptical polarization. Given that any polarization can be decomposed into these two basis polarizations, we find that the spiral-TECNA response to an arbitrary polarization scales with the matching-elliptical-polarization component. The spiral TECNA polarization response is analogous to that of RF spiral antennas, despite the intermediate transduction between high-frequency currents and heat.

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