Antenna efficiency in graphene-based THz photoconductive antennas

A dipole-like antenna made of graphene strips and integrated with a THz photonic mixer is studied numerically. The input impedance and the radiation properties of such graphene-based antenna are investigated through full-wave numerical simulations. Full-wave simulations show that the graphene-based antennas can provide higher input impedance along with the tunability of the resonance frequency; however, they exhibit significantly lower radiation efficiency when compared with metallic counterpart.