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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Using Microwave and Macroscopic Samples of Dielectric Solids to Study the Photonic Properties of Disordered Photonic Bandgap Materials
Published on: September 26, 2014
General properties of dielectric optical antennas
Jon A Schuller1, Mark L Brongersma
1Geballe Lab for Advanced Materials, 476 Lomita Mall, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94306, USA. jonschuller@yahoo.com
Abstract:
Using Mie theory we derive a number of general results concerning the resonances of spherical and cylindrical dielectric antennas. Specifically, we prove that the peak scattering cross-section of radiation-limited antennas depends only on the resonance frequency and thus is independent of refractive index and size, a result which is valid even when the resonator is atomic-scale. Furthermore, we derive scaling limits for the bandwidth of dielectric antennas and describe a cylindrical mode which is unique in its ability to support extremely large bandwidths even when the particle size is deeply subwavelength. Finally, we show that higher Q antennas may couple more efficiently to an external load, but the optimal absorption cross-section depends only on the resonance frequency.
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