Abstract

A new class of bowtie antennas with Sierpiński fractal features is proposed for sensing molecular vibration modes in the near- to mid-infrared. These antennas offer a compact device footprint and an enhanced confinement factor compared to a bowtie antenna. Through extensive simulations, it is shown that these characteristics are related to the ability of this fractal geometry to become polarized. Simulation results demonstrate that these antennas may be tuned between 700nm ≤ λ ≤ 3.4µm and that electric field enhancement by 56 is possible at the center of the antenna gap.